stronger, more powerful, than the fiercest hate. And this love we
both share. Hate me, strive to wound and injure one at whose side you
have hitherto stood like a daughter, but beware of robbing me of the
strength and freedom which I need, to be and to offer to my royal
mistress all the assistance in my power. I have just been consulting my
brother about leaving Cleopatra's service."

"Now?" Iras broke in vehemently. "No, no! Not that! It must not be! She
cannot spare you now."

"More easily, perhaps, than you," replied Charmian; "yet in many things
my services might be hard to replace."

"Nothing under the sun could do it," cried Iras eagerly. "If, in these
days of trouble, she should lose you too--"

"Still darker ones are approaching," interrupted Archibius positively.
"Perhaps you will learn all to-morrow. Whether Charmian yields to her
desire for rest, or continues in the service of the Queen, depends on
you. If you wish her to remain you must not render it too hard for her
to do so. We three, my child, are perhaps the only persons at this court
to whom the Queen's happiness is more than their own, and therefore
we should permit no incident, whatever name it may bear, to cloud our
harmony."

Iras threw back her head with angry pride, exclaiming passionately:
"Was it I who injured you? I do not know in what respect. But you and
Charmian--though you have so long been aware that this heart was closed
against every love save one--stepped between me and the man for whom I
have yearned since childhood, and built the bridge which united Dion and
Barine. I held the woman I hated in my grasp, and thanked the immortals
for the boon; but you two--it is not difficult to guess the secret you
are still trying to keep from me--you aided her to escape. You have
robbed me of my revenge; you have again placed the singer in the path
where she must find the man to whom I have a better and older claim, and
who perhaps may still be considering which of us two will be the better
mistress of his house, if Alexas and his worthy brother do not arrange
matters so that we must both content ourselves with thinking tenderly of
a dead man. That is why I believe that I am no longer indebted to you,
that Charmian has more than repaid herself for all the kindness she has
ever showed me."

With these words she hurried to the door, but paused on the threshold,
exclaiming: "This is the state of affairs; yet I am ready to serve the
Queen hand i