at the little steeper, she remembered the days
of her own youth, and the quiet happiness which she had enjoyed in her
garden of Epicurus.

Power and splendour had begun for her beyond its confines, but the
greater the heights of worldly grandeur she attained, the more distant,
the more irrecoverable became the consciousness of the happiness which
she had once gratefully enjoyed, and for which she had never ceased
to long. And as she now gazed once more at the peaceful, smiling face,
whence all pain and anxiety seemed worlds away, and all the love which
her heart contained appeared to be pouring towards him, the question
arose in her mind whether this boy, for whom she possessed no crown,
might not be the only happy mortal of them all-happy in the sense of
the master. Deeply moved by this thought, she turned to Archibius
and Charmian, exclaiming in a subdued tone, in order not to rouse the
sleeper: "Whatever destiny may await us, I commend this child to your
special love and care. If Fate denies him the lustre of the crown
and the elation of power, teach him to enjoy that other happiness,
which--how long ago it is!--your father unfolded to his mother."

Archibius kissed her robe, and Charmian her hands; but Cleopatra,
drawing a long breath, said: "The mother has already taken too much time
from the Queen. I have ordered the news of my arrival to be kept from
Caesarion. This was well. The most important matters will be settled
before our meeting. Everything relating to me and to the state must be
decided within an hour. But, first, I am something more than mother and
Queen. The woman also asserts her claim. I will find time for you, my
friend, to-morrow!-To my chamber first, Charmian. But you need rest
still more than I. Go with your brother. Send Iras to me. She will be
glad to use her skilful fingers again in her mistress's service."

CHAPTER XI.

The Queen had left her bath. Iras had arranged the still abundant waves
of her hair, now dark-brown in hue, and robed her magnificently to
receive the dignitaries whom, spite of the late hour of the night, she
expected.

How wonderfully she had retained her beauty! It seemed as if Time had
not ventured to touch this masterpiece of feminine loveliness; yet the
Greek's keen eye detected here and there some token of the vanishing
spell of youth. She loved her mistress, yet her inmost soul rejoiced
whenever she detected in her the same changes which began to appear in