The Irish standard., 1889-11-23
UMvIR.

- 9$H2I$
z $$$S WIN fair she seemed, even In
BE- Wf0& her disarray, her long
A~kl&W hair streaming DER her
EXM8s44 8 llNS2 breast! How deadly fail
EE@ATsr- she seemed in the faint
@ - light-this woman the
HaZsS|E= story of whose beauty
& and whose sin shall outlive the
lRNlT solid mass of mighty pyramid that
lowered over usl The heaviness of he1
swoon had smoothed away all the false
ness of her face, and naught was left
but the stamp divine of woman's richest
loneliness, softened by shadows of the night
and dlguifed by the cast Of deathlike sleep.
I gazed upon her and all my heart went out
to her; it seemed that did but love her
more because of the depth of the treasons
wherein had sunk to reach. her, and be.
cause of the terrors we had .outfaced TO-
gether. Weary and spent with fears and
the pangs of guilt, my heart sought hers
for rest, for now she alone was left to me.
She had sworn to wed me also, and with
the treasure we had won we would make
Egypt strong and free her from her foes,
and all should yet be we'll All! could
have seen the picture that was to be, how,
and in what place and circumstances, once
again this very woman's head should be
laid upon my knee, pale with that cast Of
death! All! could have seen!
Ichafed her hand between my hands.
bent me and kissed her on the lips, and she
woke. She woke with little sob Of fear
a SILVER ran down her delicate limbs; and
with wide eyes she stared upon my face.
''Ah, it IS thou!'' she said. Il mind me-
thou hast saved me from that horror
haunted placeI' And she threw her arms
about my neck and drew me to her and
kissed me. 'iCome, love-" she said, 'let us
be goingl am sore athirst, and-ah !!
so very weary! The gems, too, they chafe
my breast! Never was wealth SO hardly
won! Come, let us be going from the
shadow of this ghostly spot! See the faint
lights glanclng from the wing of Dawn !!
How beautiful they are, and how sweet to
behold! Never, in those Halls of Eternal
Night, did think to look upon the blush Of
dawn again! All! l. can see the face Of
that dead slave yet, with the Horror hang
ing to his beardless Chin Betpink thee!-
there he'll SIT forever--thera-with the
horror! Come; where may we find waters
/ would give an emerald for a cup of water!"
SAT the canal at the borders of the titled
land below the temple Of Horemku--it is
lis, we will say that we are pilgrims who
have lost our way at night among the
tombs. Vail thyself closely, therefore,
Cleopatra; and beware lest thou dost show
aught of those gems about thee"
So she vailed herself, and lifted her on
to the ass which was tethered close at hand.
We walked slowly through the sand till we
came to the place where the symbol of the
God Horemku, fashioned as q mighty sphinx
whom the Greeks call Harmachis), and
crowned with the royal crown of Egypt,
ooks out in majesty across the land, his
ayes ever fixed upon the East Even as we
walked the first arrow Of the rising sun
luivercd through the gray air, striking
1pon Horemku's lips Of holy calm Then the
light gathered and grew upon the cleaning
,ides of twenty pyramids, and, like prom
SO Of Life to Death, rested on the portals OF
en thousand tombs. Then from his horizon
bed Royal Ra rose up in pomp, and it was
lay.
alabaster that was built before the days Of
Chufu, to the glory of the majesty of Hor-
smku, we descended the slope and came to
the water of the canal. There we drank;
ind sweeter was that draught of muddy
andria Also we washed the mummy dust
and CRIME from our hands and broWs and
made us clean. And as she bathed her
neck, stopping over the water, one of the
great emeralds slipped from Cleopatra's
breast and fell into the water, and 1t was
but by chance that at length found it in
the mire. Then, once more, lifted Cleo
patra on to the beast, and slowly, for I was
very weary, we marched back to the banks
of Sihor, where our craft was. And having
At lengA come thither, seeing no one save
some few peasants going out to labor on the
lands, I turned the ass loose ia that me
field where we had found him, and we
boarded tue craft while the crew were yet
sleeping. Then, waking them, we babe
them make all sail, saying that we had left
The eunuch to sojourn awhile behind US, as
IN truth we had. So we sailed, and the
gems, with such OF the ornaments OF gold
as we cou ia bring hither, we hid away.
Four days and more we spent in coming
to Alexandria, for the wind was for the
most part against us; and they were happy
daysl At first, indeed, Cleopatra was
somewhat silent and heavy at heart, for
what she had seen and felt In the womb Of
the pyramid weighed her down. But soon
her imperial spirit awake and shook the
burden from her breast and she became
herself again-now gay, now learned; now
loving and now cold; now queenly and now
ltogether simple-ever chan ging as the
winds Of heaven, and, as the heaven, deep,
beauteous and unsearchablel
Night after night for those four unhappy
nights, the last happy hours lever was to
know, we sat hand in hand upon the deck
and heard the waters lap the vessels side,
and watched the soft football Of the moon
rs she trod the depths Of the Nile. There
We sat and talked Of love, talked Of our
marriage and all that we would do. Also I
drew up plansof war and Of defense against
the Roman, which now we had the means
TO carry out; and she approved them,
ssweetly saying that what seemed good to
me was good % her. And 90 all too swiftly
passed the days. q those nig hts npon the
Nile ffheir memory nts me yetI Dead