sorrowful eyes, as she did into mine, and spoken of her misery, you would
have gone through fire and water, hand in hand with me, for her sake. I
am not a man who is easily moved, and since my father's death the only
tears I have seen have been shed by others; but when she talked of the
mausoleum I was to build for her because Fate, she knew not how soon,
might force her to seek refuge in the arms of death, my calmness
vanished. Then, when she cumbered me among the friends on whom she could
rely and held out her hand--a matchless hand--oh! laugh if you choose--I
felt I know not how, and kneeling at her feet I kissed it; it was wet
with my tears. I am not ashamed of this emotion, and my lips seem
consecrated since they touched the little white hand which spoke a
language of its own and stands before my eyes wherever I gaze."

Pushing back his thick locks from his brow as he spoke, he shook his head
as though dissatisfied with himself and, in an altered tone, hurriedly
continued: "But this is a time ill-suited for such ebullitions of
feeling. I mentioned the mausoleum, whose erection the Queen desires. She
will see the first hasty sketch to-morrow. It is already before my mind's
eye. She wished to have it adjoin the Temple of Isis, her goddess--I
proposed the great sanctuary in the Rhakotis quarter, but she
objected--she wished to have it close to the palace at Lochias. She had
thought of the temple at the Corner of the Muses, but the house occupied
by Didymus stood in the way of a larger structure. If this were removed
it would be possible to carry the street through the old man's garden,
perhaps even to the sea-shore, and we should have had space for a
gigantic edifice and still left room for a fine garden. But we had
learned how the philosopher loved his family estate. The Queen is
unwilling to use violence towards the old man. She is just, and perhaps
other reasons, of which I am ignorant, influence her. So I promised to
look for another site, though I saw how much she desired to have her tomb
connected with the sanctuary of her favourite goddess Then--I have
already told the clever brown witch--then the immortals, Divinity, Fate,
or whatever we call the power which guides the world and our lives
according to eternal laws and its own mysterious, omnipotent will,
permitted a rascally deed, from which I think may come deliverance for
you and a source of pleasure to the Queen in these days of trial."

"Man, man! Where w