“Oraetes arose rejoicing. He went away in spirit a hundred years younger than when he came.”
V.
“‘Speak!’ said Oraetes to Menopha, in the palace at Memphis.
“And Menopha replied, ‘Most mighty king, if you were young, I should not answer, because I am yet pleased with life; as it is, I will say the queen, like any other mortal, is paying the penalty of a crime.’
“‘A crime!’ exclaimed Oraetes, angrily.
“Menopha bowed very low.
“‘Yes; to herself.’
“‘I am not in mood for riddles,’ said the king.
“‘What I say is not a riddle, as you shall hear. Ne-ne-hofra grew up under my eyes, and confided every incident of her life to me; among others, that she loved the son of her father’s gardener, Barbec by name.’
“Oraetes’s frown, strangely enough, began to dissipate.