Daphne had been encouraged to ask questions on anything which occurred to her, and one day she said to Thoth—
“Are there any superior to thee? Art thou really not the king?”
“There is one to whom I owe the utmost obedience, and there are many equal to me in authority if they choose to exercise their power.”
“And what do they?”
He hesitated, and then, appearing to remember his promise to answer, said, “At present they spend their days and nights in sleep,—they rest to prepare for great deeds. I am vice-regent.”
A strange people, thought Daphne, in which the king and his princes are sleepers, and yet some say that is like the blessed gods.
Months passed away, and Daphne began to think that Thoth must have changed his intentions regarding her.
She had seen none of the other chiefs, unless those in disguise were such, and the disguise was thorough and complete.
Sometimes, when half dreaming, she imagined that Thoth must be reserving her for himself; but in a moment the image of his passionless face, which never showed any emotion save that of troubled thought, put to flight the fancy. A marble statue seemed more capable of love than this superlatively wise vice-regent.