Tiny profile figures, quaint
borders of lotus and mystic inscriptions trailed after the swift reed
in multitudinous and bewildering succession. As he worked, a young man
entered the doorway from the court and, advancing a few steps toward
the table, watched the development of the drawings with interest.
Those were the days of early maturity and short life. The Egyptian of
the Exodus often married at sixteen, and was full of years and ready to
be gathered to Osiris at fifty-five or sixty. The great Rameses lived
to the unheard-of age of seventy-seven, having occupied the throne
since his eleventh year.
This young Egyptian, nearly eighteen, was grown and powerful with the
might of mature manhood. A glance at the pair at once established
their relationship as father and son. The features were strikingly
similar, the stature the same, though the young frame was supple and
light, not massive.
The hair was straight, abundant, brilliant black and cropped midway
down the neck and just above the brows. There was no effort at
parting. It was dressed from the crown of the head as each hair would
naturally lie and was confined by a circlet of gold, the token of the
royal blood of his mother's house.
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