d me of my honour, and steeped me to the lips in shame,
and I, poor fallen, blinded wretch, I kissed the rod that smote me, and
was her very slave.

Ay, even now, in those dreams which still come when Sleep unlocks the
secret heart, and sets its terrors free to roam through the opened halls
of Thought, I seem to see her royal form, as erst I saw it, come with
arms outstretched and Love's own light shining in her eyes, with lips
apart and flowing locks, and stamped upon her face the look of utter
tenderness that she alone could wear. Ay, still, after all the years, I
seem to see her come as erst she came, and still I wake to know her an
unutterable lie!

And thus one day she came. She had fled in haste, she said, from some
great council summoned concerning the wars of Antony in Syria, and
she came, as she had left the council, in all her robes of state, the
sceptre in her hand, and on her brow the uraeus diadem of gold. There she
sat before me, laughing; for, wearying of them, she had told the envoys
to whom she gave audience in the council that she was called from their
presence by a sudden message come from Rome; and the jest seemed merry
to her. Suddenly she rose, took the diadem from her brow, and set it
on my hair, and on my shoulders her royal mantle, and in my hand the
sceptre, and bowed the knee before me. Then, laughing again, she kissed
me on the lips, and said I was indeed her King. But, remembering how
I had been crowned in the halls of Abouthis, and remembering also that
wreath of roses of which the odour haunts me yet, I rose, pale with
wrath, and cast the trinkets from me, asking how she dared to mock
me--her caged bird. And I think there was that about me which startled
her, for she fell back.

"Nay, Harmachis," she said, "be not wroth! How knowest thou that I mock
thee? How knowest thou that thou shalt not be Pharaoh in fact and deed?"

"What meanest thou?" I said. "Wilt thou, then, wed me before Egypt? How
else can I be Pharaoh now?"

She cast down her eyes. "Perchance, love, it is in my mind to wed thee,"
she said gently. "Listen," she went on: "Thou growest pale, here, in
this prison, and thou dost eat little. Gainsay me not! I know it from
the slaves. I have kept thee here, Harmachis, for thy own sake, that is
so dear to me; and for thy own sake, and thy honour's sake, thou must
still seem to be my prisoner. Else wouldst thou be shamed and slain--ay,
murdered secretly. But I can meet thee here n