rian saluted the startled young beauty with a formal bow, but
Iras, without a greeting or even a single word of preparation, delivered
the Queen's command, and then read aloud, by the light of the lantern,
what Cleopatra had scrawled upon the wax tablet.

When Barine, pallid and scarcely able to control her emotion, requested
the messengers who had arrived at so late an hour to enter, in order
to give her time to prepare for the night drive and take leave of her
mother, Iras vouchsafed no reply, but, as if she had the right to rule
the house, merely ordered the doorkeeper to bring his mistress's cloak
without delay.

While the old man, with trembling knees, moved away, Iras asked if the
wounded Dion was in the dwelling; and Barine, her self-control restored
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 nothi