nelia, all
her Roman haughtiness rising.

"I do not think you will be found disobedient. The queen, it seems,
noticed you in my carriage yesterday, and at once divined, with that
wonderfully quick wit of hers, that you must be a Roman lady of rank.
She immediately made inquiries, and now sends her chamberlain to ask
you and the Lady Fabia, as well as myself, to dine with her at the
palace to-night. You may be sure nothing will be lacking to do you
honour."

Cornelia meekly acquiesced in this royal mandate. Fabia, however,
could not stir from the house. The shock to her finely strung nature
when she was taken from Rome had, indeed, produced a physical
reaction. She was not seriously ill, but could endure no excitement.
So it was with only Cleomenes for an escort that Cornelia mounted into
one of the splendid royal chariots sent from the palace about dusk,
and drove away surrounded by a cloud of guardsmen sent to do honour to
the guests of the queen.

Cornelia herself felt highly strung and slightly nervous. She wished,
for the first time since she reached Alexandria, that she could go
dressed in the native costume of a Roman lady, She was going to enjoy
the hospitality of a princess who was the successor of thirty odd
dynasties of Pharaohs; who was worshipped herself as a goddess by
millions of Egyptians; who was hailed as "Daughter of the Sun," and
with fifty other fulsome titles; a princess, furthermore, who was
supposed to dispose of the lives of her subjects as seemed right in
her own eyes, without law of man or god to hinder. Cornelia was not
afraid, nay rather, anticipatory; only she had never before been so
thoroughly conscious that she was Roman down to her finger-tips--Roman,
and hence could look upon the faces of princes unabashed.

The people saw the royal chariot, and some shouted salutations to the
guests whom the queen delighted to honour. The company swept up under
the magnificent archway leading to the palace; above them rose tall
Ionic columns of red granite of Syene, building rising above building,
labyrinths of pillars, myriads of statues. Torches were blazing from
every direction. The palace grounds were as bright as day. The light
breeze was sweeping through rare Indian ferns and tropical palms. The
air was heavy with the breath of innumerable roses. Huge fountains
were tossing up showers of spray, which fell tinkling onto broad
basins wherein the cups of the blue and white lotus were floating.