"A strange Queen, Rei," said the Wanderer, as he paused, "but what have
I to make in this tale of a bride and her mad dreams?"

"More than thou shalt desire," said Rei; "but let us come to the end,
and thou shalt hear thy part in the Fate."



VIII

THE KA, THE BAI, AND THE KHOU

"The Divine Pharaoh Rameses died and was gathered to Osiris. With these
hands I closed his coffin and set him in his splendid tomb, where he
shall rest unharmed for ever till the day of the awakening. And Meriamun
and Meneptah reigned in Khem. But to Pharaoh she was very cold, though
he did her will in everything, and they had but one child, so that in a
while he wearied of her loveliness.

"But hers was the master-mind, and she ruled Pharaoh as she ruled all
else.

"For me, my lot was bettered; she talked much with me, and advanced me
to great dignity, so that I was the first Master Builder in Khem, and
Commander of the legion of Amen.

"Now it chanced that Meriamun made a feast, where she entertained
Pharaoh and Hataska sat beside him. She was the first lady about the
Queen's person, a beautiful but insolent woman, who had gained Pharaoh's