treated from their
caresses, and the Egyptian locks on their temples, which marked the age
of childhood, and the Egyptian garments which Pothinus made them wear,
lent them an unfamiliar aspect.

"When it was reported that the Romans were advancing from Gaza, both
girls were overpowered by passionate excitement. Arsinoe's glittered in
every glance; Cleopatra understood how to conceal hers, but her colour
often varied, and her face, which was not pink and white like her
sister's, but--how shall I express it?"

"I know what you mean," Barine interrupted. "When I saw her, nothing
seemed to me more charming than that pallid hue through which the
crimson of her cheeks shines like the flame through yonder alabaster
lamp, the tint of the peach through the down. I have seen it often in
convalescents. Aphrodite breathes this hue on the faces and figures of
her favourites only, as the god of time imparts the green tinge to the
bronze. Nothing is more beautiful than when such women blush."

"Your sight is keen," replied Archibius, smiling. "It seemed indeed as
if not Eos, but her faint reflection in the western horizon, was tinting
the sky, when joy or shame sent the colour to her cheeks, But when
wrath took possession of her--and ere the King's return this often
happened--she could look as if she were lifeless, like a marble statue,
with lips as colourless as those of a corpse.

"My father said that the blood of Physkon and other degenerate
ancestors, who had not learned to control their passions, was asserting
itself in her also. But I must continue my story, or the messenger will
interrupt me too soon.

"Gabinius was bringing back the King. But from the time of his approach
with the Roman army and the auxiliary troops of the Ethnarch of Judea,
nothing more was learned of him or of Antipater, who commanded the
forces of Hyrkanus; every one talked constantly of the Roman general
Antony. He had led the troops successfully through the deserts between
Syria and the Egyptian Delta without losing a single man on the
dangerous road by the Sirbonian Sea and Barathra, where many an army had
met destruction. Not to Antipater, but to him, had the Jewish garrison
of Pelusium surrendered their city without striking a blow. He had
conquered in two battles; and the second, where, as you know, Berenike's
husband fell after a brave resistance, had decided the destiny of the
country.

"From the time his name was first mentioned, neither of