"Hadst thou no thought at all?" she persisted.
"I merely pondered on mine own uselessness," he answered.
"Fie!"
"Nay, even thou must see it. I live on my father's bounty; I accept my people's homage; I adore the gods. I bear no arms; I neither prepare to reign nor expect to serve. I am a thing set above the healthy labor of the world and below the cares of the exalted. I am nothing."
"Fie! I say."
Seti looked at her reproachfully.
"Thou hast wealth," she began and paused.
"Wherein doth that make me useful?"
"Much can be done with gold. Is there none in need?"
"None who asks has been denied. Yet what right have I to deal alms to them from whom my riches come? If I yielded up everything, to my very cloak, should I have done more than return to them what they have given me? I should still be a penniless prince, more useless than ever." He sat down on the broad lintel capping the parapet, but retained her hand.