or Euphronion, a grey-haired man
with a shrewd, kindly face. "We must remember how many things are yet to
be learned, that we may reach the goal fixed for your Majesty's birthday
and pass the examination."

But all the children now joined in the entreaty to be allowed to build
the stable too, and it was granted.

When the tutor at last began to lead them away, the royal mother stopped
them, asking "Suppose, instead of this garden, I should give you a bit of
bare land, such as the peasants till, where, after your lessons, you
might dig and build as much as you please?"

Loud shouts of joy from the children answered the question; but the
little Median girl, Jotape, said hesitatingly:

"Could I take my doll too--only the oldest, Atossa? She has lost one arm,
yet I love her the best."

"Deprive us of anything you choose!" cried Helios, drawing little
Alexander towards him, to show that they, the men, were of the same mind,
"only give us some ground and let us build."

"We will consider whether it can be done," replied Cleopatra. "Perhaps,
Euphronion, you would be the right person--But we will discuss the matter
at a more quiet hour."

The tutor withdrew and the children, who followed, looked back, waving
their hands and calling to their mother for a long time.

When they had disappeared behind the shrubbery in the garden Charmian
exclaimed, "However dark the sky may be, so long as you possess these
little ones you can never lack sunshine."

"If," replied Cleopatra, gazing pensively at the ground, "with a thought
of them another did not blend which makes the gloom become deeper still.
You know the tidings this terrible day has brought?"

"All," replied Charmian, sighing heavily.

"Then you know the abyss on whose verge we are walking; and to see
them--them also dragged into the yawning gulf by their unhappy
mother--Oh, Charmian, Charmian!"

She sobbed aloud, threw her arms around the neck of her friend and
playfellow, and laid her head upon her bosom like a child seeking
consolation. Cleopatra wept for several minutes, and when she again
raised her tear-stained face she said softly:

"That did me good! O, Charmian! no one needs love as I do. On your warm
heart my own has already grown calmer."

"Use it, nestle there whenever you need it, to the end," cried Charmian,
deeply moved.

"To the end," repeated Cleopatra, wiping her eyes. "It began to-day, I
think. I have just spent an hour alone. I meant to commi