"I have sent for her," Clearchus replied.
"Before she comes," Thais said, seating herself beneath the trellis and lowering her voice, "I must tell you something. The proofs for which I sent to Athens have arrived, and there can no longer be any doubt that we are sisters."
"She will be overjoyed," Clearchus said.
"I shall not tell her," Thais replied.
"Why not?" Leonidas asked bluntly. "You are a queen now, or will be one soon, and nobody thinks of—of the past."
"It is precisely because I intend to be a queen that I shall not tell her," Thais continued. "She could not love me more if she knew, and I will not be the means of bringing danger upon her or her children. We know the fate that awaits the kinsmen of princes. Did not Olympias cause Cleopatra to be slain with her babe in her arms? Has not Roxana murdered Statira, and is not Roxana herself, with the young Alexander, held in captivity? Nevertheless, I will tell her if you desire, and it shall be proclaimed throughout Egypt."
"May the Gods forbid!" Clearchus exclaimed. "You are right, Thais. It must not be told."
"Then I will destroy the proofs," she said, "and remain, as I have been, the first of my race."
All three were silent, thinking of the future, and Thais smiled faintly, as though at that moment she were conscious of the wonderful power that was to descend through her daughters, until it attained its perfection in the irresistible charm of that Cleopatra who was to see the conquerors of the world at her feet. Yet she sighed as her eyes met those of Clearchus.
"If only Chares were here!" she murmured.