"I shall write no more. My scant eloquence must be saved for the king.
"Gods! but it is good to have faith in a friend. I salute thee.
"KENKENES."
The letter to Hotep complete, Kenkenes took up another roll and wrote
thus to Meneptah:
"To Meneptah, Beloved of Ptah, Ambassador of Amen, Vicar of Ra, Lord
over Upper and Lower Egypt, greeting:"
At this point he paused. His power of expression, aghast at the
magnitude of the stake laid on its successful use, became
panic-stricken and fled from him. He feared that words could not be
chosen which would justify his sacrilege or prove his claims to Rachel
greater than Har-hat's. Meneptah would be hedged about with prejudice
against his first cause, and deterred by the prior right of Har-hat, in
the second. The last man that talked with the king molded him.
Flattery alone might prevail against coercion. It was the one hope.
Kenkenes seized his pen and wrote:
"This from thy subject, Kenkenes, the son of Mentu, thy murket.
"I give thee a true story, O Defender of Women.
"There is a maiden whose kinsmen died of hard labor in the service of
Egypt. Not one was left to care for her. Of all her house, she alone
remains.
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