Come hither, Royal One!" and she led me to the edge of the canal, where the water was deep, and still and blue.

"Now gaze upon that face as the water throws it back.

Is not that brow fitted to bear the double crown?
Do not those gentle eyes mirror the majesty of kings?
Hath not the Ptah, the Creator, fashioned that form to fit the Imperial garb, and awe the glance of multitudes looking through thee to God?
"Nay, nay!" she went on in another voice--a shrill old wife's voice--"I will--be not so foolish, boy--the scratch of a lion is a venomous thing, a terrible thing; yea, as bad as the bite of an asp--it must be treated, else it will fester, and all thy days thou shalt dream of lions; ay, and snakes; and, also, it will break out in sores.

But I know of it--I know.
I am not crazed for nothing.

For mark! everything has its balance--in madness is much wisdom, and in wisdom much madness.