"He had probably heard, your majesty, traditions of infant sons of kings having been interchanged; and as he could not account for the Prince of Thebes' influence over you by a secret, on any other reasonable grounds, he ventured this supposition."
"But he never will doubt again, O Sesostris!" she cried in an earnest manner; "no one now could make him suspect, a second time, he is not my son! Oh no, never! never! Could they, think you, my lord prince?"
"No, madam," I answered; her singular manner and language wholly surprising me, and leading me to fear that she was not at all well; that her nerves had been too severely tried by the intelligence, whatsoever its nature was, which she had received from Prince Mœris. "Your majesty, I hope, has had no evil tidings," I added, glancing at the letter she still grasped.
"Oh, evil! All evil, all!" she cried, with anguish in her looks. "Prince Sesostris!" she all at once exclaimed, "you can be trusted! I need sympathy. I cannot have it unless I reveal to you my terrible secret! I know I can confide in you. My heart will break unless I rest the weight which oppresses it upon another heart!"
"Remeses will in a few days be with you, and--" I began; but she interrupted me with accents of terror,
"No--no! It is of him! _He_ must never know my secret! It would kill him--he would fall to the earth a dead man, as if the lightnings of heaven had smitten him! No, _not_ Remeses! With him silence--eternal silence!"
"If it will relieve your majesty to confide in me, I will receive with gratitude your revelation, and extend you all the sympathy in my power," I said, with emotion.
"Noble, excellent, virtuous prince!" she exclaimed, lifting my hand to her lips. "My determination is fixed! You shall know my secret! It will be safe in your honorable breast. But will you, O prince, consent to receive a revelation affecting Remeses, your friend, which you are forbidden to make known to him?"
"For your sake, O queen, I will receive it, and conceal it from Remeses, and all men," I answered. "I would not wish to make known to him what would affect him, as you say."
"Come with me, then, O prince, into my private cabinet," she said, with a voice deep and full, as if she were greatly moved.