She bit her lip, and said, in a hollow tone—
"Prince of Tyre, is he not this day viceroy of the Thebaïd?"
"Does your majesty mean that you yielded to his demand?"
"Yes."
"I marvel at it," said I, confounded at the acknowledgment. "If what he had said had been true—"
"Sesostris, falsehood often flies faster than truth. It can do as much mischief. The rumor of such a thing, false or true, would have shaken my throne, and destroyed the confidence of the mass of the people in Remeses when he came to the sceptre. I resolved to stifle it by giving Mœris what he asked."
I regarded the queen with sentiments of pity and sorrow. She said quickly—
"Read another letter from him." I did so. It was dated three years later, and demanded the command of the fleet, and its separation from the control of the general-in-chief of the armies. This general-in-chief was Remeses, dear mother. To the demand the queen yielded, and thereby erected the maritime arm of her kingdom into an independent service, acknowledging no superior authority but that of the throne. When I had ended the perusal of the letter, the queen placed in my hand a third missive from this powerful man.
"This is what I received but now," she gasped. "Read it, Sesostris, and give me your sympathy."
It bore date—