"I did but test the harmony of the
strings; harmony is grateful to mine ear."
Menes' lips twitched. "If harmony is here," he said with meaning, "you
will find it in the instrument."
Again, a voice from the general conversation broke in--this time from
Rameses.
"Kenkenes hath outlasted an army of other singers. I knew him as such
when mine uncles yet lived and my father was many moves from the
throne. It was while we dwelt unroyally here in Memphis. They made
thee sing in the temple, Kenkenes. Dost thou remember?"
"Aye," Ta-user took it up. "They made thee sing in the temple and it
went sore against thee, Kenkenes. Most of the upper classes in the
college here were hoarse or treble by turns, and the priests required
thee by force from thy tutors because thou couldst sing. Thou wast a
stubborn lad, as pretty as a mimosa and as surly as a caged lion. I
can see thee now chanting, with a voice like a lark, and frowning like
a very demon from Amenti!"
The princess laughed musically at her own narration and received the
applause of the others with a serene countenance. She had repaid
Kenkenes for his implied championship of her cause earlier in the
evening.
"Art still as reluctant, Kenkenes?" the Lady Senci called to him.
Pages:
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273