"Nay, he was the soul of honor, but he is dead."
"Dead!" the old woman cried, catching at her dress.
"Hush! Tell her not!"
"Aye, thou art right. Tell her not! But--but how did he die?"
"By drowning. His boat was discovered battered and overturned among
the wharf-piling at Memphis, some weeks agone."
The old woman was silent for a moment and then she shook her head.
"He is a resourceful youth and he may have procured another boat and
set this one adrift to deceive his enemies. Yet, the time has been so
long, it may be; it may be."
"None in Memphis doubts it. His father hath given him up and his house
and his people are in mourning. But we may not lose this moment in
surmises. Wilt thou go with me into Memphis--if this sending is
withdrawn?"
"There is no other choice," Deborah answered after some pondering.
"Kenkenes offered us refuge with his father--alas! that the young man
should die!" After shaking her head and muttering to herself in her
own tongue, she went on. "But Rachel hesitated to accept, at first
from maiden shyness, though now she hath a secret fear, I doubt not,
that the Egyptian may have played her false. The sorry news must be
told her ere she would go.
Pages:
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455