"`You may say that,' he cried with a wild laugh; `the words come well from your lips. For me they have no meaning.'
"`What mean you?' I cried, raising myself upon my elbow. `Surely, friend, this grief has turned your brain.' His face was aflame with joy, and he writhed and shook like one who hath a devil.
"`Do you know whither I go?' he asked.
"`Nay,' I answered, `I cannot tell.'
"`I go to her,' said he. `She lies embalmed in the further tomb by the double palm-tree beyond the city wall.'
"`Why do you go there?' I asked.
"`To die!' he shrieked, `to die! I am not bound by earthen fetters.'
"`But the elixir is in your blood,' I cried.
"`I can defy it,' said he; `I have found a stronger principle which will destroy it. It is working in my veins at this moment, and in an hour I shall be a dead man. I shall join her, and you shall remain behind.'
"As I looked upon him I could see that he spoke words of truth. The light in his eye told me that he was indeed beyond the power of the elixir.
"`You will teach me!' I cried.
"`Never!' he answered.
"`I implore you, by the wisdom of Thoth, by the majesty of Anubis!'
"`It is useless,' he said coldly.
"`Then I will find it out,' I cried.
"`You cannot,' he answered; `it came to me by
