What is the present?
I speak of it, and it is no more.

Now, I ask you, what joys can I look forward to, and what certain happiness am I justified in hoping for?
"Thou dost not love any one," replied Nefert.

"Thou dost follow thy own course, calm and undeviating as the moon above us.

The highest joys are unknown to thee, but for the same reason thou dost not know the bitterest pain." "What pain ?" asked the princess.
"The torment of a heart consumed by the fires of Sechet," replied Nefert.
The princess looked thoughtfully at the ground, then she turned her eyes eagerly on her friend.
"You are mistaken," she said; "I know what love and longing are.

But you need only wait till a feast day to wear the jewel that is your own, while my treasure is no more mine than a pearl that I see gleaming at the bottom of the sea." "Thou canst love!" exclaimed Nefert with joyful excitement.