Fear has got hold of me.

Oh! I would that we had never come to this hateful Memphis, or set eyes upon its ill-omened lord, that foul brute who seeks to make a wife of me." "Be not afraid, Lady," said Asti, throwing her arms about Tua's slight and quivering form.

"To-morrow morning we march; I have it from Pharaoh, and already the guard make preparations, while as for the accursed Abi, he is in prison." "There is no prison that will hold him, Asti, save the grave.

Oh! why did not my Father command him to be slain, as I would have done?
Then, at least, we should be free of him, and he could never marry me." "Because it was otherwise decreed, O Neter-Tua, and Pharaoh must fulfil his fate and ours, for though he is so gentle, none can turn him." As she spoke the words, somewhere, far beneath them, arose a cry, a voice of one in dread or woe, and with it the sound of feet upon the stairs.
"What passes ?" said Asti, leaping to the door.
"Pharaoh is dead or dying," answered the terrified voice without.

"Let her Majesty come to Pharaoh." They threw on their garments, they ran down the narrow stair and across the halls till they came to the chamber of Pharaoh.