that you at least have not changed, and, old friend, I am ready to
trust you with my life if you ask it. In fact, you do ask me that
very thing when you tell me to speak all I know of Phorenice."

I nodded. This was more like the old times, when there was
full confidence between us. "The Gods will it now that I return to
Atlantis," I said, "and what happens after that the Gods alone
know. But it would be of service to me if I could land on her
shores with some knowledge of this Phorenice, for at present I am
as ignorant concerning her as some savage from Europe or
mid-Africa."

"What would you have me tell?"

"Tell all. I know only that she, a woman, reigns, whereby the
ancient law of the land, a man should rule; that she is not even of
the Priestly Clan from which the law says all rulers must be drawn;
and that, from what you say, she has caused the throne to totter.
The throne was as firm as the everlasting hills in the old King's
day, Tatho."

"History has moved with pace since then, and Phorenice has
spurred it. You know her origin?"

"I know only the exact little I have told you."

"She was a swineherd's daughter from the mountains, though
this is never even whispered now, as she has declared herself to be
a daughter of the Gods, with a miraculous birth and upbringing. As
she has decreed it a sacrilege to question this parentage, and has