t matters now at the end."

Charmion shivered and made answer: "It is true, O Queen; I also was of
the plot, and because Harmachis scorned me I betrayed him; and because
of my great love for him I have remained unwed." And she glanced up at
me and caught my eyes, then let the modest lashes veil her own.

"So! I thought it. Strange are the ways of women! But little cause,
methinks, had that Harmachis to thank thee for thy love. What sayest
thou, Olympus? Ah, and so thou also wast a traitor, Charmion? How
dangerous are the paths which Monarchs tread! Well, I forgive thee, for
thou hast served me faithfully since that hour.

"But to my tale. Harmachis I dared not slay, lest his great party should
rise in fury and cast me from the throne. And now mark the issue. Though
he must murder me, in secret this Harmachis loved me, and something
thereof I guessed. I had striven a little to draw him to me, for the
sake of his beauty and his wit; and for the love of man Cleopatra never
strove in vain. Therefore when, with the dagger in his robe, he came
to slay me, I matched my charms against his will, and need I tell you,
being man and woman, how I won? Oh, never can I forget the look in
the eyes of that fallen prince, that forsworn priest, that discrowned
Pharaoh, when, lost in the poppied draught, I saw him sink into
a shameful sleep whence he might no more wake with honour! And,
thereafter--till, in the end, I wearied of him, and his sad learned
mind, for his guilty soul forbade him to be gay--a little I came to care
for him, though not to love. But he--he who loved me--clung to me as a
drunkard to the cup which ruins him. Deeming that I should wed him,
he betrayed to me the secret of the hidden wealth of the pyramid of
_Her_--for at the time I much needed treasure--and together we dared the
terrors of the tomb and drew it forth, even from dead Pharaoh's breast.
See, this emerald was a part thereof!"--and she pointed to the great
scarabaeus that she had drawn from the holy heart of Menkau-ra.

"And because of what was written in the tomb, and of that Thing which
we saw in the tomb--ah, pest upon it! why does its memory haunt me
now?--and also because of policy, for I would fain have won the love
of the Egyptians, I was minded to marry this Harmachis and declare his
place and lineage to the world--ay, and by his aid hold Egypt from the
Roman. For Dellius had then come to call me to Antony, and after much
thought I determined to s