Page:Orczy--the gates of Kamt.djvu/325

 triumphant laugh, which sounded weird and demoniacal, as it went echoing through the vastness of the temple, "thou didst give it to one who was beautiful and great, and praised above all. Dost know where she is now, oh! beloved of the gods? A prisoner in the hands of the priests of Isis, who seized her, even within the precincts of the temple of the goddess, while thy kisses were still warm upon her lips."

"Thou liest," hissed Hugh with smothered rage. And he raised his hand and struck the evil-mouthed priest an ugly blow upon the face, so that a few drops of blood began to trickle down his gaunt cheeks.

"Thou liest!"

"Nay! Thou knowest well that I do not lie," replied Ur-tasen, who literally had not turned a hair under the terrible insult. "The priests of Isis had noticed the women of Princess Neit-akrit standing about outside the temple at dawn. They warned me and I ordered them to watch. Osiris had not made a long journey in the heavens when from out the gates of the sacred edifice they saw a woman glide. The priests of Isis waited … she parted from her lover at the gate.… They saw it all … the laws of Kamt are severe upon the sin of unchastity, and a sin committed within the temple is doubly heinous … that woman was Neit-akrit, Princess of Kamt. Before her women could reach her she was a prisoner, and now awaits her doom for the crime she hath committed."

But like a madman Hugh was upon him, and his powerful hands had clutched the old priest by the throat.

"Man, thou art bold indeed," he whispered in his ear, "to stand with such a tale before me and my wrath! Dost know that if that tale is true, that if thou or thy priests do harm but to one hair of Princess