What thinkest thou?"
The man smiled and nodded. "Naught but the darts of Amenti shall delay
me."
Kenkenes gave him the message, and a handful of rings. The man
expressed his thanks, after which he went forth, and the door was
barred.
Kenkenes stood for a while, motionless before the tightly fitted portal
of stone. Then through the high crevice that was his window the sounds
of life outside smote upon his ear. The noise of the city seemed to
become all revel. Some one under the walls laughed--the hearty,
raucous laugh of the care-free boor.
He turned about and flung himself face down in the straw of his pallet.
He had begun to wait.
CHAPTER XXV
THE LOVE OF RAMESES
By the twentieth of May, the court of Meneptah was ready to proceed to
Tanis.
The next week the Pharaoh would depart. To-night he received noble
Memphis for a final revel.
His palace was aglow, from its tremendous portals to the airy hypostyle
upon its root and from far-reaching wing to wing, with countless
colored lights. From every architrave and cornice depended garlands
and draperies, and tinted banners waved unseen in the dark. The great
loteform pillars supporting the porch were festooned with lotus
flowers, and the approaches were strewn with palm-leaves.
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