The prince looked at her with wide eyes, his cheeks flushed, his lips silent.
"Wouldst thou have proof?" she continued recklessly. "Seek out Hotep, who hath been keeper of the records at Pithom and ask him."
"Did he tell thee?" Seti demanded.
"Nay; I learned it from another source, not in the palace." The prince lapsed into silence, his eyes averted. Ta-user regarded him intently. Suddenly he raised his head.
"Dost thou know the amount of his share?" he asked.
"It is but a moderate part of the queen's fortune, since each of the king's children by his many women was included."
Seti winced, for there was something dimly offensive in the calm way she stated the bald fact.
"It is not much, as princely dowers go," she added casually.
"He shall have it," Seti said almost impatiently. "Out of mine own wealth he shall have it—not as a bribe—he would not have it so—but because it is his."
She caught his hands to her breast and cried out in delight.