thou shouldst be slain--ay, even if I wept out my heart upon thy grave,
Harmachis. But what said I just now?--Vengeance is an arrow that oft
falls on him who looses it. So it was with me; for between my going and
thy coming Cleopatra hatched a deeper plan. She feared that to slay thee
would only be to light a fiercer fire of revolt; but she saw that to
bind thee to her, and, having left men awhile in doubt, to show thee
faithless, would strike the imminent danger at its roots and wither
it. This plot once formed, being great, she dared its doubtful issue,
and--need I go on? Thou knowest, Harmachis, how she won; and thus the
shaft of vengeance that I loosed fell upon my own head. For on the
morrow I knew that I had sinned for naught, that the burden of my
betrayal had been laid on the wretched Paulus, and that I had but ruined
the cause to which I was sworn and given the man I loved to the arms of
wanton Egypt."

She bowed her head awhile, and then, as I spoke not, once more went on:

"Let all my sin be told, Harmachis, and then let justice come. See now,
this thing happened. Half did Cleopatra learn to love thee, and deep in
her heart she bethought her of taking thee to wedded husband. For the
sake of this half love of hers she spared the lives of those in the plot
whom she had meshed, bethinking her that if she wedded thee she might
use them and thee to draw the heart of Egypt, which loves not her nor
any Ptolemy. And then, once again she entrapped thee, and in thy folly
thou didst betray to her the secret of the hidden wealth of Egypt, which
to-day she squanders to delight the luxurious Antony; and, of a truth,
at that time she purposed to make good her oath and marry thee. But on
the very morn when Dellius came for answer she sent for me, and telling
me all--for my wit, above any, she holds at price--demanded of me my
judgment whether she should defy Antony and wed thee, or whether she
should put the thought away and come to Antony. And I--now mark thou all
my sin--I, in my bitter jealousy, rather than I would see her thy wedded
wife and thou her loving lord, counselled her most strictly that
she should come to Antony, well knowing--for I had had speech with
Dellius--that if she came, this weak Antony would fall like a ripe fruit
at her feet, as, indeed, he has fallen. And but now I have shown thee
the issue of the scheme. Antony loves Cleopatra and Cleopatra loves
Antony, and thou art robbed, and matters have gone