The old woman waved her hands.
"Trouble not concerning me. I shall not die by heavy labor."
But the girl shook her head and gazed out of the low entrance of the tent. Her face was full of trouble. Once again the old woman looked at her with suspicion in her eyes. Presently the girl asked, coloring painfully:
"Was Atsu commanded to hold me for this guest of Merenra's—ah!" she broke off, "did Atsu name him?"
"Not by the titles by which the man would as lief be known," Deborah answered grimly, "but I remember he called him 'the governor.'"
There was a brief pause.
"Not so," she resumed, answering Rachel's first question. "Atsu but overheard him say to Merenra to see to it that thou wast taken from toil and made ready to journey with him to Bubastis."
"He can not take me by right save by a document of gift from the
Pharaoh," Rachel protested indignantly.
"Of a truth," the old woman admitted; "but Merenra is chief commander over Pa-Ramesu and how shall thine appeal to the Pharaoh pass beyond Merenra if he see fit to humor this ravening lord with a breach of the law? The message summoning him in haste to Pithom before the order could be fulfilled was all that saved thee. And if Merenra return ere thou art safely gone, thou art of a surety undone."
Rachel moved away a little and stood thinking. The old woman went on with a note of despondency in her voice.