Mexico weekly ledger., 1889-12-12

90 4NSS
but no answer came. At length / looked
up, and behold Charmion stood before me
-Charmion, no longer gay and bright, but
pale Of face and hollow-eyed.
"Royal Hdrmachis, - she said, Cleopatra
summons thee presently, to declare to her
the voices of the stars"
So the hour had fallenI
ut is well, Charmion, ;" L answered. Are
all things in order!n
"Yea, my Lord; all things are in order;
well primed with wine, Paulus guards the
gates, the eunuchs are withdrawn save one,
the legionaries sleep, and already Sepa and
his force lie hid Without. Naught has been
neglected, and no lamb skipping at the
shamble doors can be more innocent OF its
doom than is Queen Cleopatra
att is WELL" 1 said again; ''let US be GO
ing" And rising, 1 placed the dagger in
the bosom Of my robe. Taking a cup of
wine that stood near I drank deep Of it, for
food had 1 scarce tasted all that day.
"One word,'' she said hurriedly, "for 1t
Is not yet time: last night-ah, last nightp'
and her bosom heaved-''I dreamed q
dream that haunt me strang ely, and per-
chance thou also didst dream q dream.
TWAS all a dream and tits forgotten; is it
not SO, my Lordr"
"Yea, yea" 1 said; "why troublest thou
me thus at such an hourl"
eNay, l know not; but tonight, Harma-
CHS, Fate is in labor of a great event, and
in her painful throes mayhap she'll
crush me in her grip-me or thee, or tbs
twain of US, Harmachis. And II that be SO
well, l would hear from thee before tits
done, that twas naught but a dream, and
that dream forgot"
"Yea, It's all a DREAM / said, idly;
'thou and /, and the solid earth, and this
heavy night of terror-ay, and this keen
pointed knife-what are these but dreams,
and with what face shall the waking comet"
80, now thou fallest in my humor, Royal
Harmachis- AS thou sayest, we dream;
and while we dream yet can the vision
change. For wonderful are the fantasies
of dreams, seeing that they have no stabil-
ity, but vary like the vaprous edge Of sun
Iset clouds, building now this thing and now
THAT, being now dark and heavy and now
lalight with splendor. Therefore, before we
wake tomorrow, tell me one word. Is that
vision of last night, wherein l seemed to be
quite ashamed, and thou didst seem to laugh
upon my shame, a fixed fantasy, or can it,
iperchance, yet change its co~untenancei
For, remember, when that waking comes,
1.-THE vagaries of our sleep will be more IN
lalterabie and more enduring than are the
pyramids. Then W II they be gathered into
that changeless region of the past where all
things, great and small ay, even dreams,
Harmachis-are, each in its own semblance,
frozen into stone and built within the Tomb
Of Time immortal"
shay, Charmion,' / replied. 81 grieve IL
Ibid pain thee; but DER that vision comes
no change. / said what was in my heart,
and there's end. Thou art my cousin
and my friend; more 1 can never be to
thee"
, well-'ts very wsll,' she said; 'let
1t be forgot. And now on from dream-to
dream" And she smiled with such q smile
Is I had never seen her wear before; twas
sadder and more fateful than any stamp
that grief can set Upon the brow.
For-though, being blinded by my own
folly and the trouble at my heart, / knew il
not-with that smile, for Charmion the