nds, and described in regular order all that had
befallen her during the eventful day.

Barine listened with rising excitement, and her joy increased as she
beheld the path which had been smoothed for her by the care and wisdom
of her friends. Charmian, on the contrary, became graver and more
quiet the more distinctly she perceived the danger her favourite must
encounter. Yet she could not help admitting that it would be a sin
against Barine's safety, perhaps her very life, to withhold her from
this well-considered plan of escape.

That it must be tried was certain; but as the moment which was to
endanger the woman she loved drew nearer, and she could not help saying
to herself that she was aiding an enterprise in opposition to the
express command of the Queen and helping to execute a plan which
threatened to rouse the indignation, perhaps the fury, of Cleopatra, a
feeling of sorrow overpowered her. She feared nothing for herself. Not
for a single instant did she think of the unpleasant consequences which
Barine's escape might draw upon her. The burden on her soul was due only
to the consciousness of having, for the first time, opposed the will
of the sovereign, to fulfil whose desires and to promote whose aims had
been the beloved duty of her life. Doubtless the thought crossed her
mind that, by aiding Barine's escape, she was guarding Cleopatra from
future repentance; probably she felt sure that it was her duty to
help rescue this beautiful young life, whose bloom had been so cruelly
assailed by tempest and hoar-frost, and which now had a prospect of the
purest happiness; yet, though in itself commendable, the deed brought
her into sharp conflict with the loftiest aims and aspirations of her
life. And how much nearer than the other was the woman--she shrank from
the word--whom she was about to betray, how much greater was Cleopatra's
claim to her love and gratitude! Could she have any other emotion than
thankfulness if the plan of escape succeeded? Yet she was reluctant
to perform the task of making Barine's beautiful, symmetrical figure
resemble the hunch-backed Nubian's, or to dip her fingers into the
pomade intended for Cleopatra; and it grieved her to mar the beauty of
Barine's luxuriant tresses by cutting off part of her thick fair braids.

True, these things could not be avoided, if the flight was to succeed,
and the further Anukis advanced in her story, the fewer became her
mistress's objections to the plan.