And as they gazed a cloud gathered before them. Very slowly it took
shape and form, and the form it took was the form of a man, though as
yet he was but vaguely mapped upon the twilight, and seemed now to grow
and now to melt away.

Then I cried with a loud voice:

"Spirit, I conjure thee, _appear!_"

And as I cried the Thing, perfect in every part, leapt into form before
us, suddenly as the flash of day. His shape was the shape of royal
Caesar, the toga thrown about his face, and on his form a vestment bloody
from a hundred wounds. An instant so he stood, then I waved my wand and
he was gone.

I turned to the two women on the couch, and saw Cleopatra's lovely face
all clothed in terror. Her lips were ashy white, her eyes stared wide,
and all the flesh was shaking on her bones.

"Man!" she gasped; "man! who and what art thou who canst bring the dead
before our eyes?"

"I am the Queen's astronomer, magician, servant--what the Queen wills,"
I answered, laughing. "Was this the form that was on the Queen's mind?"

She made no answer, but, rising, left the chamber by another door.

Then Charmion rose also and took her hands from her face, for she, too,
had been stricken with dread.

"How dost thou these things, royal Harmachis?" she said. "Tell me; for
of a truth I fear thee."

"Be not afraid," I answered. "Perchance thou didst see nothing but what
was in my mind. All things are shadows. How canst thou, then, know their
nature, or what is and what only seems to be? But how goes it? Remember,
Charmion, this sport is played to an end."

"It goes well," she said. "By to-morrow morning's dawn these tales
will have gone round, and thou wilt be more feared than any man in
Alexandria. Follow me, I pray thee."

CHAPTER IV

OF THE WAYS OF CHARMION; AND OF THE CROWNING OF HARMACHIS AS THE KING OF
LOVE

On the following day I received the writing of my appointment as
Astrologer and Magician-in-Chief to the Queen, with the pay and
perquisites of that office, which were not small. Rooms were given me
in the palace, also, through which I passed at night to the high
watch-tower, whence I looked on the stars and drew their auguries. For
at this time Cleopatra was much troubled about matters political, and
not knowing how the great struggle among the Roman factions would end,
but being very desirous to side with the strongest, she took constant
counsel with me as to the warnings of the stars. These I read to her
in suc