"Many of you do not believe in what will be the very marrow of my story." "Come, Voltaire, never mind apologies," said Tom Temple; "we are all anxious to hear it." "I mentioned last night," said Voltaire, "that I had spent some time in Egypt up by the Nile.

The story I have to tell relates to that part of the world.
"I had sailed up the Nile, by one of the ordinary river steamers, to a place called Aboo Simbel, close to the Second Cataract.

Here the ordinary tourist stops, and stops too at the beginning of what really interests an imaginative mind.

There are, however, some fine ruins here which well repay one for a visit.

Ah me! _One_ wishes he had lived three or four thousand years ago when he stands among those ancient piles.
There was some wisdom then, some knowledge of the deep things of life! However, I did not stay here.