back to my own room unobserved. What a world of sorrowful
sympathy shines in your wonderful eyes! What a pity you can't die
now, just as you are, for then your pure sinless soul would float
straight to that Fifth Heaven of the Midrash, 'Gan-Eden,' which is
set apart exclusively for the souls of noble women, and Pharaoh's
daughter, who is presumed to be Queen there, would certainly make you
maid of honour! One word more, before I run away. Do you know why
Cleopatra is coming here?''

"Olga, I do not in the least understand half you are saying."

Olga's large white hand smoothed back the hair that clouded the
girl's forehead, and she asked almost incredulously:

"Don't you really know that the Sorceress of the Nile drifts hither
in her gilded barge? You have heard of Brunella Carew, the richest
woman in the Antilles? She is the most dangerous of smooth-skinned
witches, as fascinating as Phryne, but more wisely discreet. When you
see her you will be at once reminded of Owen Meredith's 'Fatality':

'Live hair afloat with snakes of gold,
And a throat as white as snow,
And a stately figure and foot
And that faint pink smile, so sweet, so cold.'

Just now this Cuban widow is the fashionable lioness; she is also a
pet _clientele_ of Erle Palma, and comes here to-day on a brief
visit. Heaven grant she prove his Lamia! As she affects Oriental
style, I call her Cleopatra, which pleases her vastly. Having been
endowed at birth with beauty and fortune, her remaining ambition is
to appear fastidious in literature, and _dilettante_ in art, and if
you wish to stretch her on St. Lawrence's gridiron, you have only to
offer a quotation or illustration which she cannot understand. Beware
of the poison of asps. There is an object to be accomplished by
inviting her here, and you may safely indulge the belief that her own
campaign is well matured. Keep your solemn sinless eyes wide open,
and don't under any circumstances quarrel with poor Elliott Roscoe.
One drop of his blood floats more generosity and magnanimity than all
the blue ice in his cousin's body. He was in a savage mood last
night, at Mrs. Tarrant's, and had some angry words with your
guardian, who of course treated him as he would a spoiled boy. Roscoe
at least has or had a heart. There is the day staring at us! I must
be gone. Remember--I have trusted you."

She left the room, closing the door noiselessly, and Regina was lost
in