“Well doth it become Harmachis, who never was forsworn, to speak to me of oaths!” she said in bitter mockery.  “And yet, O thou most pure Priest of Isis; and yet, O thou most faithful friend, who never didst betray thy friends; and yet, O thou most steadfast, honourable, and upright man, who never bartered thy birthright, thy country, and thy cause for the price of a woman’s passing love—­by what token knowest thou that my word is void?”

“I will not answer thy taunts, Cleopatra,” I said, holding back my heart as best I might, “for I have earned them all, though not from thee.  By this token, then, I know it.  Thou goest to visit Antony; thou goest, as said that Roman knave, ‘tricked in thy best attire,’ to feast with him whom thou shouldst give to vultures for their feast.  Perhaps, for aught I know, thou art about to squander those treasures that thou hast filched from the body of Menkau-ra, those treasures stored against the need of Egypt, upon wanton revels which shall complete the shame of Egypt.  By these things, then, I know that thou art forsworn, and I, who, loving thee, believed thee, tricked; and by this, also, that thou who didst but yesternight swear to wed me, dost to-day cover me with taunts, and even before that Roman put me to an open shame!”

“To wed thee? and I did swear to wed thee?  Well, and what is marriage?  Is it the union of the heart, that bond beautiful as gossamer and than gossamer more light, which binds soul to soul, as they float through the dreamy night of passion, a bond to be, perchance, melted in the dews of dawn?  Or is it the iron link of enforced, unchanging union whereby if sinks the one the other must be dragged beneath the sea of circumstance, there, like a punished slave, to perish of unavoidable corruption?[*] Marriage! I to marry! I to forget freedom and court the worst slavery of our sex, which, by the selfish will of man, the stronger, still binds us to a bed grown hateful, and enforces a service that love mayhap no longer hallows!  Of what use, then, to be a Queen, if thereby I may not escape the evil of the meanly born?  Mark thou, Harmachis:  Woman being grown hath two ills to fear—­Death and Marriage; and of these twain is Marriage the more vile; for in Death we may find rest, but in Marriage, should it fail us, we must find hell.  Nay, being above the breath of common slander that enviously would blast those who of true virtue will not consent to stretch affection’s links, I love, Harmachis; but I marry not!”

     [*] Referring to the Roman custom of chaining a living felon
     to the body of one already dead.—­Editor.

“And yesternight, Cleopatra, thou didst swear that thou wouldst wed me, and call me to thy side before the face of Egypt!”

“And yesternight, Harmachis, the red ring round the moon marked the coming of the storm, and yet the day is fair!  But who knows that the tempest may not break to-morrow?  Who knows that I have not chosen the easier path to save Egypt from the Roman?  Who knows, Harmachis, that thou shalt not still call me wife?”