"This, my son," he added, "I am well aware I owe to your good offices."
I asked him if he would return at once to Upper Egypt, where he had his bishopric.
"No, my son," he answered, "not yet awhile. The truth is that there have arrived here the chief man in my diocese, and his daughter. He is a descendant of the old Pharaohs of the Egyptians who lives near the second cataract of the Nile, almost on the borders of Ethiopia, whither the accursed children of Mahomet have not yet forced their way. He is still a great man among the Egyptians, who look upon him as their lawful prince. His mission here is to try to plan a new war upon the followers of the Prophet, who, he holds, might be assailed by the Empire at the mouths of the Nile, while he attacked them with his Egyptians from the south."
Now I grew interested, who had always grieved over the loss of Egypt to the Empire, and asked what was this prince's name.
"Magas, my son, and his daughter is named Heliodore. Ah! she is such a woman as I would see you wed, beautiful indeed, and good and true as she is beautiful, with a high spirit also, such as befits her ancient blood. Mayhap you will note her in the cathedral. Nay, I forgot, not there, but afterwards in this palace, since it is the command of the Empress, to whom I have been speaking of their matters, that these two should come to dwell here for a while. After that I hope we shall all return to Egypt together, though Magas, being on a secret mission, does not travel under his own name, but as a merchant."
Suddenly he paused, and began to stare at my throat.
"Is aught wrong with my armour, Father?" I asked.
"No, son. I was looking at that trinket which you wear. Of course I have noted it before, but never closely. It is strange, very strange!"
"What is strange, Father?"
"Only that I have seen another like it."
"I dare say you have," I answered, laughing, "for when I would not give this to the Augusta, it pleased her to have it copied."
"No, no; I mean in Egypt, and, what is more, a story hung to the jewel."
"On whom? Where? What story?" I asked eagerly.
"Oh! I cannot stay to tell you now. Moreover, your mind should be fixed upon immortal crowns, and not on earthly necklaces. I must be gone; nay, stay me not, I am already late. Do you get you to your knees and pray till your god-parents come to fetch you."