by the question, answered, with repellent pride, that the Queen's orders
did not command her to submit to an examination in her own house.

Iras shrugged her shoulders and said, sneeringly, to Alexas:

"In truth, I asked too much. One who attracts so many men of all ages can
scarcely be expected to know the abode of each individual."

"The heart has a faithful memory," replied the Syrian in a tone of
correction, but Iras echoed, contemptuously, "The heart!"

Then all were silent until, instead of the doorkeeper, Berenike herself
came hurrying in, bringing the cloak. With pallid face and bloodless lips
she wrapped it around her daughter's shoulders, whispering, amid floods
of tears, almost inaudible words of love and encouragement, which Iras
interrupted by requesting Barine to follow her to the carriage.

The mother and daughter embraced and kissed each other, then the closed
equipage bore the persecuted woman through the storm and darkness to
Lochias.

Not a word was exchanged between Barine and the Queen's messengers until
they reached the room where the former was to await Cleopatra; but here
Iras again endeavoured to induce her to speak. At the first question,
however, Barine answered that she had no information to give.

The room was as bright as if it were noonday, though the lights flickered
constantly, for the wind found its way through the thin shutters closing
the windows on both sides of the corner room, and a strong, cold draught
swept in. Barine wrapped her cloak more closely around her; the storm
which howled about the sea-washed palace harmonized with the vehement
agitation of her soul. Whether she had looked within or without, there
was nothing which could have soothed her save the assurance of being
loved--an assurance that held fear at bay. Now, indignation prevented
dread from overpowering her, yet calm consideration could not fail to
show her that danger threatened on every hand. The very manner in which
Iras and Alexas whispered together, without heeding her presence, boded
peril, for courtiers show such contempt only to those whom they know are
threatened with the indifference or resentment of the sovereign. Barine,
during her married life with a man devoid of all delicacy of feeling, and
with a disposition as evil as his tongue was ready, had learned to endure
many things which were hard to bear; yet when, after a remark from Iras
evidently concerning her, she heard Alexas laugh, she was com