Jabez reflected for a moment, and answered:
“Then in the presence of Ana let it be, since he is a man who knows when to be silent.”
Jabez made obeisance and departed, and at a sign from the Prince I followed him. Presently we were ushered into the chamber of the lady Merapi, where she sat looking most sad and lonely, with a veil of black upon her head.
“Greeting, my uncle,” she said, after glancing at me, whose presence I think she understood. “Are you the bearer of more prophecies? I pray not, since your last were overtrue,” and she touched the black veil with her finger.
“I am the bearer of tidings, and of a prayer, Niece. The tidings are that the people of Israel are about to leave Egypt. The prayer, which is also a command, is—that you make ready to accompany them——”
“To Laban?” she asked, looking up.
“No, my niece. Laban would not wish as a wife one who has been the mistress of an Egyptian, but to play your part, however humble, in the fortunes of our people.”
“I am glad that Laban does not wish what he never could obtain, my uncle. Tell me, I pray you, why should I hearken to this prayer, or this command?”
“For a good reason, Niece—that your life hangs on it. Heretofore you have been suffered to take your heart’s desire. But if you bide in Egypt where you have no longer a mission to fulfil, having done all that was sought of you in keeping the mind of your lover, the Prince Seti, true to the cause of Israel, you will surely die.”
“You mean that our people will kill me?”