Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-11-05
CLEOPATRA.
Being an Account of the Fall and Vengeance of Harmachis, the
 Royal Egyptian.

not thine own Harmachis. But heavily have been shackled heretofore, for wars, rebellions, envies, plots have hemmed me in on every side, so that might not serve my people as 1 would. But thou, Har- machis, shalt show me how. Thou shalt be my counselor and my love. Is it little thing, o Harmachis, to have won the heart of Cleopatra, that heart-fie on thee !-that thou wouldst have stilleda Ay, thou shalt unite me to my people, and together will we reign, linking thus in one the new kingdom and the old. Thus do all things work for Good-ay, for the very best-and thus, by another and a eentler road, shalt thou climb to Pharaohs throne.
 ''See thou thls, Harmachis thy treachery shall be cloaked about as much as may be. Was it, then, thy fault that Roman knave betrayed thy plans! that, thereon, thou vast drugged, thy secret papers stolen and their key guessed! Will it, then, be blame to thee that, the great plot being broken and those who built it scattered, thou, still faithful to thy trust, didst serve thee of such means as Nature gave thee, and win the heart of Egypt's Queen, that, through her gentle love, thou mightest yet attain thy ends and spread thy wings of power across the rolling Nile? Am 1 an ill-counselor, thinkest thou, Harmachis?'
 lifted my head, and a ray of hope crept into the darkness of my heart; for when men fall they grasp at feathers. Then, for the first time, spoke.
 And those with me-those who trusted me-what of them!"
 'Ay," she answered, "Amenemhat, thy father, the aged Priest of Abydos; and sepa, thy uncle, that fiery patriot, whose great heart is hid beneath SO common shell of form: an0-n
 Methought she would have said Char mion, but she named her not.
 "And many others-oh, Iknow them all !'
 "Ay!" said, ''what of them!"
 'See thou, Harmachis," she answered, raising and placing her hand upon my arm, ''for thy sake will show mercy to them. No more will do than must be done. swear by my throne and by all the Gods of Egypt that not one hair of thy aged fathers head shall be harmed by mo; and, if it be not too late, thy uncle Sepa will I also spare, ay, and the others. I will not do as did my forefather Epiphanes, who, when the Egyptians rose against him, dragged Athinls, Pausiras, Chesuphus and 1robash- tus, bound to his chariot-not as Achilles dragged Hector, but yet living-round the city walls. will spare them all, save the Hebrews, if there be any Hebrews; for the Jews hate"
 "Ihere are no HeOreWS," said.
 Ut Is well," she said, "for no Hebrew will ever spare. Am I then, indeed, so cruel women as they say? In thy list, O Harmachis, were many doomed to die; and I Ihave but taken the life of one Roman knave, Q double traitor, for he betrayed both me and thee. Art thou not over whelmed, Harmachis, with the weight of mercy which ] give thee, because such are Q woman's reasons-thou pleasest me, Har- machisl Nay, by Serapis!" l" she added, with a little laugh, "Ill change my mind; l will not give thee so much for nothing. Thou shalt buy 1t from me, and the price shall be heavy one-it shall be kiss, Harmachis."
 ''Nay,' I said, turning from that fair temptress, "the price is too heavy; I kiss no more"
 "Bethink thee," she answered, with a heavy frown. "Bethink thee and choose. 1 am but a woman, Harmachs, and one who is not wont to sue men. Do as thou wilt {; but this say to thee-if thou dost put me away, I will gather up the mercy l have meted out. Therefore, most virtuous priest, choose thou 'twiXt the heavy burdel of my love and the swift death of thy aged father and of all those wno plotted with him."
 glanced at her and saw that she was angered, for her eyes shone and her bosom heaved. So, signing, I kissed her, thereby setting the seal upon my shame and bond age. Then smiling like the triumphant Aphrodite of the Greeks, she went thence, bearing the dagger with her.
 Not yet did know how deeply 1 was be- trayed; or why still was left to draw the breath of life; or why Cleopatra, the tiger. hearted, had grown merciful. l did not know that she feared to slay me lest, so strong was the plot and 50 feeble her hold upon the Double Crown, the tumult that might tread hard upon the tidings of my murder should-even when was no moro shake her from the throne. I did not know that because of fear and the weight of policy only she showed scant mercy to those whom had betrayed, or that because of cunning and not for the holy sake of woman's love-though, in truth, she liked me we'll enough-she chose rather to bind mo to her by the fbers of my heart. And yet this will I say in her behalf Even when the danger-cloud had melted from her sky she kept her faith, nor, save Paulus and one other, did any suffer the utmost penalty of death for their part in the great plot against Cleopatra's crown and dynasty. But many other things they suffered
 And so she went, leaving the vision of her glory to strive with the shame and sorrow of my heart. Oh, bitter were the hours that could no" no more Do mauo light with prayer. For the link between me and the Divine was snapped, and no more did Isis commune with her Priest, Bitter were the hours and dark, but ever through their darkness shone the starry..eyes of Cleopatra, and came the echo of her whispered love- Fornot yet was the cup of sorrow full. Still hope fingered in my heart, and almost could think that had failed to some higher end, and that even in the depths of ruin should find another and moro fowery path to tri- umph.
 For thus those do who wickedly deceive themselves, striving to lay the burden of their evil deeds upon the back of Fate, striv. ing to believe their sin may compass good, and to murder Conscience with the sharp plea of necessity. But naught can it avail, for hand in hand down the path to sin rush Remorse and Ruin, and woe to him they followl Ay, and woe to me, who of all sim ners am the cEiefl
 CHAPTER XVI
 IMPRISONMENT OF HARMACHIS: THE SCORN
 OF CHARMIoN; THE SETTING FREE OF HAR-
 MACHIs; THE COMING OF QUINTUS DELLIUS. e>urur.rur,rrUn,rrr1nE of