nd offered me the first
bouquet, with his sunny glance wooing my love, his image has stood before
my soul as the embodiment of the virile strength which conquers
everything, and the bright, undimmed joy which renders the whole world
happy. And now--now? Do you remember the dull dreamer whom we left ere he
set forth for Paraetonium? But no, no, a thousand times no, he must not
remain so! Not with bowed head, but erect as in the days of happiness,
must he cross the threshold of Hades, hand in hand with her whom he
loved. And he does love me still. Else would he have followed me hither,
though no magic goblet drew him after me? And I? The heart which, in the
breast of the child, gave him its first young love, is still his, and
will be forever. Might I not go to the harbour and await him there? Look
me in the face, Charmian, and answer me as fearlessly as a mirror: did
Olympus really succeed in effacing the wrinkles?"

"They were scarcely visible before," was the reply, "and even the keenest
eye could no longer discover them. I have brought the pomade, too, and
the prescription Olympus gave me for--"

"Hush, hush!" interrupted Cleopatra softly. "There are many living
creatures in this garden, and they say that even the birds are good
listeners."

A roguish smile deepened the dimples in her cheeks as she spoke, and
delight in her bewitching grace forced from Charmian's lips the
exclamation:

"If Mark Antony could only see you now!"

"Flatterer!" replied the Queen with a grateful smile. But Charmian felt
that the time had now come to plead once more for Barine, and she began
eagerly:

"No, I certainly do not flatter. No one in Alexandria, no matter what
name she bears, could venture to vie even remotely with your charms. So
cease the persecution of the unfortunate woman whom you confided to my
care. It is an insult to Cleopatra--"

But here an indignant "Again!" interrupted her.

Cleopatra's face, which during the conversation had mirrored every
emotion of a woman's soul, from the deepest sorrow to the most
mischievous mirth, assumed an expression of repellent harshness, and,
with the curt remark, "You are forgetting what I had good reason to
forbid--I must go to my work," she turned her back upon the companion of
her youth.

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

See facts as they are and treat them like figures in a sum

CLEOPATRA

By Georg Ebers

Volume 7.

CHAPTER XV.

Charmain went tow