The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1889-10-24

the throne. All was prepared, triumph
hung 10 my hand as q ripe fruit to the hanf
Of the plucker. Yet, as I sat at the roya
feast my heart was heavy, and q shadow Of
coming woe lay cold within my mind. sal
| there in place OF honor, nigh TO tho
| majesty OF Cleopatra, and looked down the
| lines Of guests, bright with gems and gar
landed with flowers, marking those whom
i had doomed to die. There before me lay
Cleopatra's self, In all her beauty, which
thrilled the bcaolder as he Is thrilled by the
rushing OF the midnight gale, or by the
sight Of stormy waters. / gazed on her as
she touched her lips with wine and toyed
with tho Chalet OF roses on her brow, be-
thinking me of the dagger beneath my
robe that had sworn to bury iE her breast.
Again. and yet again. gazcd and strove
to late her, sfroye TO rejoice that she must
die-and could not. There, too, behind
hcr-watching me now, as ever, with her
deep-fringcd cyes-was tho lovely Lady
| charInion. Vho,fo look at her innocen,
face. would believe that she was the setter
Of that snare wherein should miserably
perish the Queen who loved her. Who
would dream that locked in her girlish
breast was the secret Of so much deaths !
gazed, and grew sick at heart because
must anoint my throne with blood, and by
evil sweep away tho evil Of the land. At
that hour | wished, indeed. that ! was
r,ught bn. some humble hnsbandman. who
In its season sows and in its season
gamers the golden grain! Alas! the seed
that had been doomed 10 sow was the red
seed Of Death. and now ] must reap the
fruit of tho harvest!
"Why. Harmachis, what ais thee.' said
he. tn
the golden sse.n of stars got tangled, my
astronomers or dost thou plan some new
feat of magici Say what is IL, that thou
dost 50 poorly grace our feast. Nay. now,
did / not know, having made inquiry
thereon, that things so low as we poor
women arc far beneath thy gaze, why. |
should swear that Eros had found thee
out. Harmaciii-..'
NAY, that ! am spared. . Queen
answered 1.-THE servant of the star marks
not the smaller light of woman's eyes, and
therein he is happy"
Cleopatra leaned herself toward me, look-
ing on me long and steadily in such fashion
that despite my will the blood fluttered at
my heart.
'Boast not, thou proud Egyptian she
said in low voice which none but / and
CharInion could hear. "lest perchance thou
dost tempt me TO match my magic against
thine. What woman can forgive that man
should push us by as things of no account:
lis an insult TO our sex that Natures self
anhors," and she leaned back and laughed
most unsteady. But CHANGING up, / saw
Charmion, her teeth upon her lip and an
angry frown upon her brow.
Pardon, Royal Egypt I answered,
coldly, but with such wit as / could SUM-
mon, "before the Queen OF Heaven even
Stars grow pale!' This / said Of the
Moon, which is the sign Of the Holy
Mother whom Cleopatra dared to rival,
naming herself Isis come to earth.
"Happilv said," she answered, clapping
her white hands. .Why. here's an astron-
omer who hath wit and can shape COM
pliment. Nay, such a wonder must not pass
unnoted, lest the Gods resent ii. Char
mion, take thou this chaplet from nv bail
and set ii upon the learned brow Of our
Harmachis. King II Lore he shall b.
crowned, whether he will it or will it not
Charmion lifted the chaplct from Cleo
patra's brows and bearing it to where ]
was, with smile set it upon my head, yet
warm and fragrant from the Queens hair.
but SO roughly that she panied me some
what. And this she did because she was
wroth, although she smiled with her lips
and whispered: IAN omen. Royal Har.
machis.n For though she was so much a
woman, yet, when she was angcred or suf-
fcred jealousy, Charmion had childish
way.
Having thus fixed the chaplet, she court
ecied low before me. and with the softcst
tone of mocaery named me. in the Greek
tongue. .'Hurmachis, King of Love. :
Thereon Cleopatra laughed and pledged me
as king of love- and SO did all the COM
pany, finding the jest @ merry one. For in
Alexandria they love not those who live
straightly and turn aside from women.
But sat there, q smile upon my lips and
black anger in my heart For, knowing
who and what vas, it irked me 70 think
myself q jest TO the frivolous mobiles and
light beauties Of Cleopatra's Court. Eut
chiefly was angered against Charmion,
because she laughed the loudest, and then
did not know that laughter and bitterness
are often the walls Of sore heart where
with il wraps its weakness from the world
IAN omen.' she said it was--that crown of
iiowers-and 50 it proved indeed. For
was fatcd to barter the double diadem Of
the Upper and the Lower Land for wreath
OF passions roses that fade even ere they
fully bloom, and Pharaoh's ivory bed of
state for the pillow Of a faithless woman's
breast.
''Ktag Of Lorc,' they crowned me in their
mockery; aye, and King of Shamei And /,
with the perfumed roses on my brow-l, by
descent and ordination the Pharaoh of