e shore. Again strong arms bore her and Dion to the land,
and when her foot touched the solid earth, her rescuer, the freedman
Pyrrhus, broke the silence, saying: "Welcome, wife of Dion, to our
island! True, you must be satisfied to take us as we are. But if you
are as content with us as we are glad to serve you and your lord, who is
ours also, the hour of leave-taking will be far distant."

Then, leading the way to the house, he showed her as her future
apartments two large whitewashed rooms, whose sole ornament was their
exquisite neatness. On the threshold stood Pyrrhus's grey-haired wife,
a young woman, and a girl scarcely beyond childhood; but the older
one modestly welcomed Barine, and also begged her to accept their
hospitality. Recovery was rapid in the pure air of the Serpent Isle. She
herself, and--she pointed to the others--her oldest son's wife, and her
own daughter, Dione, would be ready to render her any service.

CHAPTER XVI.

Brothers and sisters are rarely talkative when they are together. As
Charmian went to Lochias with Archibius, it was difficult for her to
find words, the events of the past few hours had agitated her so deeply.
Archibius, too, could not succeed in turning his thoughts in any other
direction, though important and far more momentous things claimed his
attention.

They walked on silently side by side. In reply to his sister's inquiry
where the newly wedded pair were to be concealed, he had answered that,
spite of her trustworthiness, this must remain a secret. To her second
query, how had it been possible to use the interior of the Temple of
Isis without interruption, he also made a guarded reply.

In fact, it was the control of the subterranean corridors of the
sanctuary which had suggested to Gorgias the idea of carrying Dion
through them to Pyrrhus's fishing-boat. To accomplish this it was only
necessary to have the Temple of Isis, which usually remained open day
and night, left to the fugitive's friends for a short time; and this was
successfully managed.

The historian Timagenes, who had come from Rome as ambassador and
claimed the hospitality of his former pupil Archibius, had been
empowered to offer Cleopatra recognition of her own and her children's
right to the throne, and a full pardon, if she would deliver Mark Antony
into the hands of Octavianus, or have him put to death.

The Alexandrian Timagenes considered this demand both just and
desirable, because it pro