"Nay, I have been in Memphis twenty days at least."
"So?" queried Nechutes. "Where dost thou keep thyself?"
"In the garb of labor among the ink-pots and papyri of the sculptor class," the lady answered. "I warrant there are pigment marks on his fingers even now."
Kenkenes extended his long right hand to her for inspection. She received it across her pink palm and scrutinized it laughingly.
"Nay, I take it back. Here is naught but henna and a suspicion of attar. He has been idle these days."
"Hast thou forgotten the efficacy of the lemon in the removal of stains?" the sculptor asked with a smile.
The lady frowned.
"Give us thy news from Tape, then," she demanded, putting his hand away.
"The court is coming to Memphis sooner. That is all. O, aye, I had well-nigh forgot. There is also talk of a marriage between Rameses and Ta-user."
"Fie!" the lady scoffed. "Nechutes hath more to tell than that, and he hath stayed in Memphis."