The old woman discreetly held her peace till the girl should recover.
"Thou must bear in mind, Rachel," she began, after a long silence,
"that Egypt had an especial grudge against thy house,--hence, its
especial vengeance. Seti, the Pharaoh, began the oppression of the
children of Israel, but the bondage was not all-embracing, in the
beginning. There were Hebrews to whom Egypt was indebted and chief
among these was thy father's grandsire, Aram. Seti paid the debt to
him by sparing his small lands and his little treasure and himself when
he put Israel to toil. Thy father's father, thy grandsire, Elihu,
younger brother to Amminadab, who was father-in-law to Aaron, came to
his share of his father's goods when Aram was gathered to his fathers.
This was in the latter days of Seti. Thy grandsire sent his little
treasure into Arabia and bought lands with it. After many trials he
caused to grow thereon a rose-shrub which had no period of
rest--blooming freshly with every moon. And there he had the Puntish
scentmaker on the hip, for the Arabic rose rested often. The attar he
distilled from his untiring flower, had another odor, wild and sweet
and of a daintier strength. When he was ready to trade he sent in a
vial of crystal to Neferari Thermuthis and to Moses, then a young man
and a prince of the realm, a few drops of this wondrous perfume.
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