, have my eyes fallen on thee in the body," I answered
in a feigned voice. "Never till this hour, when I come forth from my
solitude to do thy bidding and cure thee of thy ills!"

"Strange! and even in the voice--Pshaw! 'tis some memory that I cannot
catch. In the body, thou sayest? then, perchance, I knew thee in a
dream?"

"Ay, O Queen; we have met in dreams."

"Thou art a strange man, who talkest thus, but, if what I hear be true,
one well learned; and, indeed, I mind me of thy counsel when thou didst
bid me join my Lord Antony in Syria, and how things befell according to
thy word. Skilled must thou be in the casting of nativities and in the
law of auguries, of which these Alexandrian fools have little knowledge.
Once I knew such another man, one Harmachis," and she sighed: "but he is
long dead--as I would I were also!--and at times I sorrow for him."

She paused, while I sank my head upon my breast and stood silent.

"Interpret me this, Olympus. In the battle at that accursed Actium, just
as the fight raged thickest and Victory began to smile upon us, a great
terror seized my heart, and thick darkness seemed to fall before
my eyes, while in my ears a voice, ay, the voice of that long dead
Harmachis, cried '_Fly! fly, or perish!_' and I fled. But from my heart
the terror leapt to the heart of Antony, and he followed after me, and
thus was the battle lost. Say, then, what God brought this evil thing
about?"

"Nay, O Queen," I answered, "it was no God--for wherein hast thou
angered the Gods of Egypt? Hast thou robbed the temples of their Faith?
Hast thou betrayed the trust of Egypt? Having done none of these things,
how, then, can the Gods of Egypt be wroth with thee? Fear not, it was
nothing but some natural vapour of the mind that overcame thy gentle
soul, made sick with the sight and sound of slaughter; and as for the
noble Antony, where thou didst go needs must that he should follow."

And as I spoke, Cleopatra turned white and trembled, glancing at me
the while to find my meaning. But I well knew that the thing was of the
avenging Gods, working through me, their instrument.

"Learned Olympus," she said, not answering my words; "my Lord Antony is
sick and crazed with grief. Like some poor hunted slave he hides himself
in yonder sea-girt Tower and shuns mankind--yes, he shuns even me, who,
for his sake, endure so many woes. Now, this is my bidding to thee.
To-morrow, at the coming of the light, do thou, led