"Does she doubt it?" asked the doctor, bowing to the mad queen.
"No, doctor," replied Cleopatra promptly. "I have the utmost faith in your loyalty, and it shall be rewarded. I have long intended to make you Lord High Baron of the Nile. Let this be the emblem."
In a dignified manner Cleopatra advanced toward Dr. Fox, and passed a bit of faded ribbon through his button-hole.
"Thanks, your Majesty," said the doctor. "Your confidence is not misplaced. I will keep this among my chief treasures."
Cleopatra looked pleased, and Mrs. Kenyon impatient and disgusted.
"He deceives me as he does her, without doubt. It is useless to question him further."
From this time she sedulously watched for an opportunity to write a letter and commit it to other hands than the doctor's. But, that he might not suspect her design, she also wrote regularly, and placed the letters in his hands.
One day the opportunity came. A young man, related to Cleopatra, visited the institution. He understood very well the character of his aunt's aberration, but was surprised to be told that the quiet lady who bore her company was also crazy.
"What is the nature of her malady?" he enquired of the doctor. "Is she ever violent?"
"Oh, no."