Before he could speak the
dark-browed Pharaoh who had named her wife strode forward and addressed
them.
"Her Majesty, Heiress of Egypt, Royal Wife, Lady of the Two Lands, has
spoken," he cried. "Now let me speak who was the husband of her Majesty.
Whether this man was once Horu the sculptor I know not. If so he was
also an evil-doer who, by my decree, died in banishment in the land
of Kush. Whatever be the truth as to that matter, he admits that he
violated the tomb of her Majesty and stole what the old thieves had
left. Her Majesty says also--and he does not deny it--that he dared to
kiss her hand, and for a man to kiss the hand of a wedded Queen of Egypt
the punishment is death. I claim that this man should die to the World
before his time, that in a day to come again he may live and suffer in
the World. Judge, O Menes."
Menes lifted his head and spoke, saying:--
"Repeat to me the law, O Pharaoh, under which a living man must die
for the kissing of a dead hand. In my day and in that of those who went
before me there was no such law in Egypt. If a living man, who was not
her husband, or of her kin, kissed the living hand of a wedded Queen of
Egypt, save in ceremony, then perchance he might be called upon to die.
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