olumns--and so I was led in. It was already dark, and between the
great pillars lights were set, as on that night when I was crowned
Pharaoh of the Upper and the Lower Land. There, too, was the long
line of Dignitaries seated in their carven chairs, and taking counsel
together. All was the same; the same cold images of Kings and Gods gazed
with the same empty eyes from the everlasting walls. Ay, more; among
those gathered there were five of the very men who, as leaders of the
great plot, had sat here to see me crowned, being the only conspirators
who had escaped the vengeance of Cleopatra and the clutching hand of
Time.

I took my stand on the spot where once I had been crowned and made me
ready for the last act of shame with such bitterness of heart as cannot
be written.

"Why, it is the physician Olympus," said one. "He who lived a hermit in
the Tombs of Tape, and who but lately was of the household of Cleopatra.
Is it, then, true that the Queen is dead by her own hand, Physician?"

"Yea, holy Sirs, I am that physician; also Cleopatra is dead by _my_
hand."

"By thy hand? Why, how comes this?--though well is she dead, forsooth,
the wicked wanton!"

"Your pardon, Sirs, and I will tell you all, for I am come hither
to that end. Perchance among you there may be some--methinks I see
some--who, nigh eleven years ago, were gathered in this hall to secretly
crown one Harmachis, Pharaoh of Khem?"

"It is true!" they said; "but how knowest thou these things, thou
Olympus?"

"Of the rest of those seven-and-thirty nobles," I went on, making no
answer, "are two-and-thirty missing. Some are dead, as Amenemhat is
dead; some are slain, as Sepa is slain; and some, perchance, yet labour
as slaves within the mines, or live afar, fearing vengeance."

"It is so," they said: "alas! it is so. Harmachis the accursed betrayed
the plot, and sold himself to the wanton Cleopatra!"

"It is so," I went on, lifting up my head. "Harmachis betrayed the plot
and sold himself to Cleopatra; and, holy Sirs--_I am that Harmachis!_"

The Priests and Dignitaries gazed astonished. Some rose and spoke; some
said naught.

"I am that Harmachis! I am that traitor, trebly steeped in crime!--a
traitor to my Gods, a traitor to my Country, a traitor to my Oath! I
come hither to say that I have done this. I have executed the Divine
vengeance on her who ruined me and gave Egypt to the Roman. And now
that, after years of toil and patient waiting, this is