" she cried. "Here is a sight to glad a
physician's heart--men dead and men sick unto death!"

"What doest thou, O Queen?" I said affrighted.

"What do I? I wreak justice on these criminals and traitors; and,
Olympus, I learn the ways of death. I have caused six different poisons
to be given to these slaves, and with an attentive eye have watched
their working. That man," and she pointed to a Nubian, "he went mad, and
raved of his native deserts and his mother. He thought himself a child
again, poor fool! and bade her hold him close to her breast and save
him from the darkness which drew near. And that Greek, he shrieked, and,
shrieking, died. And this, he wept and prayed for pity, and in the end,
like a coward, breathed his last. Now, note the Egyptian yonder, he who
still lives and groans; first he took the draught--the deadliest draught
of all, they swore--and yet the slave so dearly loves his life he will
not leave it! See, he yet strives to throw the poison from him; twice
have I given him the cup and yet he is athirst. What a drunkard we have
here! Man, man, knowest thou not that in death only can peace be found?
Struggle no more, but enter into rest." And even as she spoke, the man,
with a great cry, gave up the spirit.

"There!" she cried, "at length the farce is played--away with those
slaves whom I have forced through the difficult gates of Joy!" and she
clapped her hands. But when they had borne the bodies thence she drew me
to her, and spoke thus:

"Olympus, for all thy prophecies, the end is at hand. Caesar must
conquer, and I and my Lord Antony be lost. Now, therefore, the play
being wellnigh done, I must make ready to leave this stage of earth in
such fashion as becomes a Queen. For this cause, then, I do make trial
of these poisons, seeing that in my person I must soon endure those
agonies of death that to-day I give to others. These drugs please me
not; some wrench out the soul with cruel pains, and some too slowly work
their end. But thou art skilled in the medicines of death. Now, do thou
prepare me such a draught as shall, pangless, steal my life away."

And as I listened the sense of triumph filled my bitter heart, for
I knew now that by my own hand should this ruined woman die and the
justice of the Gods be done.

"Spoken like a Queen, O Cleopatra!" I said. "Death shall cure thy ills,
and I will brew such a wine as shall draw him down a sudden friend and
sink thee in a sea of slumber whence,