“The King!” again Miriam’s eyes searched his face “then after all, it is to be, this dreadful wedding! that shall mate beauty to the beast!”
For answer Alric pointed to the Princess, who now appeared at the turning of the road close at hand, and smiling hastened toward them.
There were tears glittering in the soft dark eyes of Hatsu, as she drew Miriam to her breast and kissed her brow.
“My sister,” she said, “those that rule the destinies of Egypt, have taken knowledge of Miriam the Israelite, and knowing that she is without spot or blemish, pure as the whitest flower, guileless as the newborn child, they bid Miriam live in unquestioning submission, the life that is pointed out to her by Hatsu, and Alric; and in some future state where love and ambition mean the highest, and the best, then may Hatsu and Alric open wide their souls and lay the secret burden of motive and purpose at Miriam’s feet, and may she find it in her heart to forgive them, and love them still.
“I go dear Miriam, from hence, on the morrow, to meet and to wed my lord; and now the hour being late let us hasten back to the palace, that we may be ready for our journey.”
CHAPTER VIII.
“Some force, that is resistless, doth command me to on this night, take pen and papyrus page, and write upon it, much that fills my mind. I seem impelled to speak words concerning the lives of those among whom destiny has placed me. Keen as my memory is to-day, time will dull it, and thereby cause me to lose my hold upon some of the threads, that are useful to me, in solving the enigma of men, and the motives that govern them.
“I am possessed of a series of hieroglyphics, whose meaning is known but to a few wise men in the civilized world; so I may safely speak upon this page, and first I choose to describe myself.
“I was born—a posthumous child—in the house of my paternal grandsire, he was one of the most learned of Syria’s priesthood; a man who had lived so much, and so long in an atmosphere of spiritual conditions, that he scarcely seemed of earth.