The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 82

She seized her head in terror.

"What is thy son's name?" repeated he.

"But thou knowest, lord, that it is Seti," answered she, with a voice almost inaudible.

"Look me in the eyes."

"O Jehovah!" whispered Sarah.

"Thou seest that thou art lying. And now I will tell thee, my son, the son of the heir to the throne of Egypt, is called Isaac--and he is a Jew--a low Jew."

"O G.o.d, O G.o.d of mercy!" cried Sarah, throwing herself at his feet.

Rameses did not raise his head for an instant, but his face was gray.

"I was forewarned," said he, "not to take a Jewess to my house. I was disgusted when I saw thy country place filled with Jews; but I kept my disgust in subjection, for I trusted thee. But thou, with thy Jews, hast stolen my son from me, thou child thief!"

"The priests commanded that he should become a Jew," whispered Sarah, sobbing at the feet of Rameses.

"The priests! What priests?"

"The most worthy Herhor, the most worthy Mefres. They said that it must be so,--that thy son would become the first king of the Jews."

"The priests? Mefres?" repeated the prince. "King of the Jews? But I have told thee that thy son would become the chief of my archers, my secretary. I told thee this, and thou, wretched woman, didst think that the t.i.tle of king of the Jews was equal to that of my secretary and archer. Mefres--Herhor! Thanks to the G.o.ds that at last I understand those dignitaries and know what fate they are preparing for my descendants."

He thought awhile, gnawing his lips. Suddenly he called with a powerful voice,--

"Hei, servants, warriors!"

The room was filled in the twinkle of an eye. Sarah's serving-women came in, the scribe and manager of the house, then the slaves; finally, a few warriors with an officer.

"Death!" cried Sarah, with a piercing voice.

She rushed to the cradle, seized her son, and, standing in the corner of the room, called out,--

"Kill me; but I will not yield my son!"

Rameses smiled.

"Centurion," said he to the officer, "take that woman with her child and conduct her to the building where my household slaves dwell. That Jewess will not be mistress here; she is to be the servant of her who takes this place.

"And thou, steward," said he, turning to the official, "see that the Jewess does not forget, to-morrow morning, to wash the feet of her mistress, who will come hither directly. If this serving-woman should prove stubborn, she is to receive stripes at command of her mistress.

Conduct the woman to the servants' quarters."

The officer and steward approached Sarah, but stopped, as they dared not touch her; but there was no need to do so. Sarah wound a garment around the puling child, and left the room, whispering,--

"O G.o.d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have mercy on us!"

She bowed low before the prince, and from her eyes tears flowed in silence.

While she was still in the antechamber, Rameses heard her sweet voice,--

"G.o.d of Abraham--Isa--"

When all was quiet, the viceroy called the officer and steward.

"Go with torches to the house among the fig-trees."

"I understand," replied the steward.

"And conduct hither, immediately, the woman who dwells there."

"It will be done."

"Thenceforth that woman will be thy mistress and the mistress of Sarah; the Jewess must wash the feet of her mistress every morning, pour water to her, and hold a mirror before her. That is my will, my command."

"It shall be accomplished," said the steward.

"And to-morrow morning thou wilt tell me if the new servant is stubborn."

When he had given these commands, he returned home; but he did not sleep that night. He felt that without raising his voice for a moment he had crushed Sarah, the wretched Jewess, who had dared to deceive him. He had punished her as a king who with one movement of the eye dashes people down from heights into the abyss of servitude. But Sarah was merely an instrument of the priests, and the heir had too great a feeling of justice to forgive the real authors when he had broken the instrument.

His rage was intensified all the more because the priests were una.s.sailable. He might send out Sarah with her child in the middle of the night to the servants' house, but he could not deprive Herhor of his power, nor Mefres of the high priesthood. Sarah had fallen at his feet, like a trampled worm; but Herhor and Mefres, who had s.n.a.t.c.hed his first-born from him, towered above Egypt, and, oh, shame! above him, the coming pharaoh, like pyramids.

And he could not tell how often in that year he had recalled the wrongs which priests had inflicted. At school they had beaten him with sticks till his back was swollen, or had tortured him with hunger till his stomach and spine had grown together. At the manuvres of the year past, Herhor spoiled his whole plan, then put the blame on him, and took away the command of an army corps. That same Herhor drew on him the displeasure of his holiness because he had taken Sarah to his house, and did not restore him to honor till the humiliated prince had pa.s.sed a couple of months in a voluntary exile.

It would seem that when he had been leader of a corps and was viceroy the priests would cease tormenting him with their guardians.h.i.+p. But just then they appeared with redoubled energy. They had made him viceroy; for what purpose?--to remove him from the pharaoh, and conclude a shameful treaty with a.s.syria. They had used force in such form that he betook himself to the temple as a penitent to obtain information concerning the condition of the state; there they deceived him through miracles and terrors, and gave thoroughly false explanations.

Next they interfered with his amus.e.m.e.nts, his women, his relations with the pharaoh, his debts, and, finally, to humiliate and render him ridiculous in the eyes of Egyptians, they made his first-born a Hebrew.

Where was the laborer, where the slave, where an Egyptian convict in the quarries who had not the right to say, "I am better than thou, the viceroy, for no son of mine is a Hebrew."

Feeling the weight of the insult, Rameses understood at the same time that he could not avenge himself immediately. Hence he determined to defer that affair to the future. In the school of the priests he had learned self-command, in the court he had learned deceit and patience; those qualities became a weapon and a s.h.i.+eld to him in his battle with the priesthood. Till he was ready he would lead them into error, and when the moment came he would strike so hard that they would never rise again.

It began to dawn. The heir fell asleep, and when he woke the first person he saw was the steward of Sarah's villa.

"What of the Jewess?" asked the prince.

"According to thy command, worthiness, she washed the feet of her new mistress," answered the official.

"Was she stubborn?"

"She was full of humility, but not adroit enough; so the angry lady struck the Jewess with her foot between the eyebrows."

The prince sprang up.

"And what did Sarah do?" inquired he, quickly.

"She fell to the pavement. And when the new mistress commanded her to go, she went out, weeping noiselessly."