"The pitying gods have left me one chance for escape. If I fail I
shall molder here, for my counsel is mine and the demons of Amenti
shall not rend it from me.
"The tale is short and miserable. But for the necessity I would not
repeat it, for it publishes the humiliation of sweet innocence.
"Suffice it to say that the offended is she of whom we talked one day
on the hill back of Masaarah; the offender is Har-hat who hath buried
me here in Tape.
"One morning he saw her at the quarries and, taken with her beauty,
asked her at the hands of the Pharaoh, for the hatefullest bondage pure
maidenhood ever knew.
"She fled from the minions he sent to take her, and came to me in that
spot on the hillside where thou and I did talk.
"There the minions found us, and by the evidence they looked upon, I am
further charged with sacrilege.
"Thou dost remember the all-powerful signet, which my father had from
the Incomparable Pharaoh. He lost it in the tomb of the king, three
years ago, abandoning the search for it before I was assured that it
was not to be found.
"So strong was my faith that the signet was in the tomb, that when this
disaster overtook her, I came to Tape at once to look again for the
treasure.
Pages:
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383