“That means that your revelations would wound me, the sun?”
“Unless your lofty soul is too great to be reached by shadows which surround less noble women with an atmosphere of indescribable torture.”
“Do you intend to render your words more attractive by the veil with which you shroud them? It is transparent, and dims the vision very little. My soul, you think, should be free from jealousy and the other weaknesses of my sex. There you are mistaken. I am a woman, and wish to remain one. As Terence’s Chremes says he is a human being, and nothing human is unknown to him, I do not hesitate to confess all feminine frailties. Anubis told me of a queen in ancient times who would not permit the inscriptions to record ‘she,’ but ‘he came,’ or ‘he, the ruler, conquered.’ Fool! Whatever concerns me, my womanhood is not less lofty than the crown. I was a woman ere I became Queen. The people prostrate themselves before my empty litters; but when, in my youth, I wandered in disguise with Antony through the city streets and visited some scene of merrymaking, while the men gazed admiringly at me, and we heard voices behind us murmur, ‘A handsome couple!’ I returned home full of joy and pride. But there was something greater still for the woman to learn, when the heart in the breast of the Queen forgot throne and sceptre and, in the hours consecrated to Eros, tasted joys known to womanhood alone. How can you men, who only command and desire, understand the happiness of sacrifice? I am a woman; my birth does not exalt me above any feeling of my sex; and what I now ask is not as Queen but as woman.”
“If that is the case,” Alexas answered with his hand upon his heart, “you impose silence upon me; for were I to confess to the woman Cleopatra what agitates my soul, I should be guilty of a double crime—I would violate a promise and betray the friend who confided his noble wife to my protection.”
“Now the darkness is becoming too dense for me,” replied Cleopatra, raising her head with repellent pride. “Or, if I choose to raise the veil, I must point out to you the barriers——”
“Which surround the Queen,” replied the Syrian with an obsequious bow. “There you behold the fact. It is an impossibility to separate the woman from the princess. So far as I am concerned, I do not wish to anger the former against the presumptuous adorer, and I desire to yield to the latter the obedience which is her due. Therefore I entreat you to forget the armlet and its many painful associations, and pass to the consideration of other matters. Perhaps the fair Barine will voluntarily confess everything, and even add how she managed to ensnare the amiable son of the greatest of men, and the most admirable of mothers, the young King Cæsarion.”
Cleopatra’s eyes flashed more brightly, and she angrily exclaimed: “I found the boy just now as though he were possessed by demons. He was ready to tear the bandage from his wound, if he were refused the woman whom he loved. A magic potion was the first thought, and his tutor of course attributes everything to magic arts. Charmian, on the contrary, declares that his visits annoyed and even alarmed Barine. Nothing except a rigid investigation can throw light upon this subject. We will await the Imperator’s return. Do you think that he will again seek the singer? You are his most trusted confidant. If you desire his best good, and care for my favour, drop your hesitation and answer this question.”
The Syrian assumed the manner of a man who had reached a decision, and answered firmly: “Certainly he will, unless you prevent him. The simplest way would be——”
“Well?”
“To inform him, as soon as he lands, that she is no longer to be found. I should be especially happy to receive this commission from my royal sun.”