Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-08

be the SON of some great man implicated in
the plot of his master, Prince Siptah.
The stout, well-fed courier shivered at the
thought, and it was with q sympathetic
qualm that he looked at this blooming
flower of humanity, SO young to be mixed
up in such perilous schemes. The Prince
had so far only hinted at the secret to him, so
he could still cut himself adrift from sharing
his masters destiny. II he parted from him,
he might look forward to an old age of ease;
but, If he clung to him, and the Princes
plot should come toa good issue, to what
heights might ne not risel How terribly
important was the choice which he, the
father of large family, was called upon to
make; the sweat stood on his brow, and he
was quite incapable of clear reflection, as
he conducted Ephraim to Kasana's tent and
then hastened to his masters.
All was still in the slight erection of
wooden poles and heavy bright colored stuffs
which sheltered the fair widow. 1t was with
a beating heart that Ephraim approached
the entrance, and when at length he took
courage and pushed aside the curtain which
was pegged to the ground, the wind filling
it like sail, he saw dark room, opening
on either hand into another. That to the
left was as dark as the center one; but from
the right lights beamed through the seams
in the canvas. The tent was of the long,
fat rooted shape. in three compartments,
such as he had often seen; and in the room
whence the light proceeded was she, no
doubt, to whom he came. To avoid anv
further suspicious he must overcome his
timidity, and he had already stopped to
unite the knot by which the curtain was
held to the peg in the ground, when that of
the lighted compartment was raised and
woman's figure came into the dark entrance
room.
Was it she? Should he venture to ad-
dress her? Yes, he must
He clenched his hands tightly, and, with
deep breath, collected his courage, as
though he were about to intrude unbidden
into the inner sanctuary of a temple Then
he pushed the curtain aside and was met
with cry from the woman he had before
observed; and he now recovered his courage,
for it was not Kasana, but the waiting
woman who had come with her to see the
prisoners, and who had accompanied her to
the camp. She recognized him, too, and
started at him as though he had risen from
the dead. They knew each other we'll; for,
the first time he had been carried to Hor-
necht's house, it was she who had prepared
his bath and laid balsam on his wounds;
and on the second occasion when they had
been inmates under the same roof, she and
her mistress had nursed him. For many an
hour had they chatted together, and he
knew that she was fond OF him,
for as he lay half conscious, hall
dazed with feverish dreams, she would
soothe him with motherly touch, and as
he grew stronger, was never weary Of ques-
tioning him about his people, telling him
that she herself was Syrian, of kindred
blood to the Hebrew. Indeed, his language
was not altogether strange to her, for it was
as a woman of 20 that she had been brought
to Egypt with other prisoners by Ramses
the Great. Ephriam, she would. say, re-
minded her of her own son when he was
younger. From this woman he had nothing
to fear; he seized her hand, and said in q
low voice that he had escaped from his
guards, and had come to ask counsel Of her
mistress and herself The word Escaped"
was enough to reassure the old woman, for
spirits, as she understood the word, were
wont to put others to fight but not to flee.
She stroked the lads curls, and before he
had finished speaking she had left him,
hurrying off to the other room to inform her
mistress that he stood without.
In q few minutes Ephraim was in the
presence Of the woman who had become the
| guiding star and warming sun of his life.
With flushing cheeks he gazed up at her
lovely features, and although it stabbed him
to the heart that, before she even vouchsafed
him greeting, she inquired whether Hosea
were with him, he forgot that foolish pang
as he noted with what kindness she looked
at him. And when she asked the serving
woman whether she did not think him look