"For no one is so lonely as a wife parted from the husband her heart longs after." "But you trust Mena's love for you ?" asked Bent-Anat.
Nefert pressed her hand to her heart and nodded assent: "And he will return, and with him your happiness." "I hope so," said Nefert softly.
"And he who hopes," said Bent Anat, "possesses already the joys of the future.

Tell me, would you have changed places with the Gods so long as Mena was with you?
No! Then you are most fortunate, for blissful memories--the joys of the past--are yours at any rate.

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.