The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1900-03-17
THE SECOND ACT
BY owen Oliver.
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hDR. STRANGE has told you Of my
IL III Ii d L. - IL

hDR. STRANGE has told you Of my
IL delusion," he said, with an un-
mirthful smile. LET us start from the
delusion. i cannot very well tell my
story in any other way"
He pushed his papers aside, leaned
back in the coy reading chair and
folded his hands. The scene haunts me
yet. His dark, grave face, with IFS raven
hair and long, pointed beard; his soft,
weary voice; the chirping of the birds,
the humming of the bees, and the hare
breaths Of summer air, stealing in
through the barred windows remem-
Der them all This is the story:
Four thousand years ago, when men
wors hiped God under the name OF Osiris
end Isis, l was Amenemhat w, king in
Kem-which you call Egypt. My con-
tsand my learning are craven upon
the great tablets, but the scribes left
unsaid what should be unsaid. There
fore you will seek in vain for mention of
Numidea, the slave.
Felix, the trader, brought her from
over the Mediterranean. When she
stood before me with flushed checks
and tears in her pale blue eyes, the cum
ming knave refused to name price.
'The world is thine, o king" he said,
"and the maid, il il be thy will. Give
TO me only what she seemeth worth TO
thee"
So / gave him nome-or province
and dealt somewhat niggardly with
him, methought. Then took her TO the
/ palace TO be queen, under the name Of
! Sebek-nefru-ra, which is on the tablets.
The people murmured, yet none dared
TO complain TO my face, but Numidea,
the blue-eyed slave, with her soft looks
and her frightened voice, was drawer
than they.
xiii me, II thou wilt, oh king" she
said, tauntingly, for in truth l love
thee not at ALL" A whole month wooed
her, disdaining force. and she said no
more. Then she cast her eyes upon Ka-
les, the captain of the guard, and cared
less than ever for me.
sent Kales on a journey beyond the
seas. / would have slain him, but he
was brave man, and we had played and
fought together as children. And then
Numidea struck me with her small, soft
hand.
flake her TO the deathsmen," / com
manded; in the morning she shall
die" Lest / should break a kings
word / rode TO the great temple far
away. But / could not sleep for the
thought of her great blue eyes, wide
with fear. So l rose and bnde them
harness the swiftest horses TO the light
est chariot, and Charmcles drove for
me, whose hand was the lightest upon
the reins. All the night we sped in the
moonlight with the sand flying in long
clouds behind us and the great pyra-
mids scowllng upon us from afar.
IF thou lovedst slave, Charmicles. /"
] asked him, "and she loved not thee? ?"
ar loved her little" he said, chap
~ She would perish, oh lord"
"And If thou lovcdst her much?" lie
looked ut the moon feeting through the
clouds for long time, and his face
grew sad.
III loved her enough, oh king-per-
chance ! should set her free"
covered my head in my robe and
said nothing. Was | not racing the fly
ing hours to open her prison doors?
Ia, the sun-god. sprung up, and
laughed upon the land, and Charmicles
wiped the sweat from his brow and
ceased to strike the horses as they pant
cd and struggled TO the base OF the
great pyramid, where the prison was.
And behold they had tortured her;
and she had died in the night.
/ drew my sword upon myself but
/ Charmicles stayed my hand. "Shall they
4 write upon the tablets that Amenemhat
OF the holy line died forloye Of a slave"
! he said.
So / went back TO the temple and
dwelt. Presently / made spell, from
my arts, that I might be reborn when
she was reborn, and another spell that
l died, and none knew why. So / fell
asleep, and my sleep was 4,c0c years.
When 7 was newborn a child knew
none of these things; but one by one
they came back 10 me.
One evening my father held me upon
his knee and showed me n quaiu. pic
turc book. and l trembled with vague
remembrance.
"lhis il how people drew in Egypt
thousands Of yesterdays ago." he said.
"The lines are all straight, because they
were cut upon stone. See. these are