Cleopatra
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CHAPTER IX
OF THE IMPRISONMENT OF HARMACHIS; OF THE SCORN OF CHARMION; OF THESETTING FREE OF HARMACHIS; AND OF THE COMING OF QUINTUS DELLIUS
For a space of eleven days I was thus kept prisoned in my chamber; nordid I see anyone except the sentries at my doors, the slaves who insilence brought me food and drink, and Cleopatra's self, who camecontinually. But, though her words of love were many, she would tell menothing of how things went without. She came in many moods--now gay andlaughing, now full of wise thoughts and speech, and now passionate only,and to every mood she gave some new-found charm. She was full of talk asto how I should help her make Egypt great, and lessen the burdens onthe people, and fright the Roman eagles back. And, though at first Ilistened heavily when she spoke thus, by slow advance as she wrappedme closer and yet more close in her magic web, from which there was noescape, my mind fell in time with hers. Then I, too, opened somethingof my heart, and somewhat also of the plans that I had formed for Egypt.She seemed to listen gladly, weighing them all, and spoke of meansand methods, telling me how she would purify the Faith and repair theancient temples--ay, and build new ones to the Gods. And ever she creptdeeper into my heart, till at length, now that every other thing hadgone from me, I learned to love her with all the unspent passion of myaching soul. I had naught left to me but Cleopatra's love, and I twinedmy life about it, and brooded on it as a widow over her only babe. Andthus the very author of my shame became my all, my dearest dear, andI loved her with a strong love that grew and grew, till it seemed toswallow up the past and make the present a dream. For she had conqueredme, she had robbed me of my honour, and steeped me to the lips in shame,and I, poor fallen, blinded wretch, I kissed the rod that smote me, andwas her very slave.
Ay, even now, in those dreams which still come when Sleep unlocks thesecret heart, and sets its terrors free to roam through the opened hallsof Thought, I seem to see her royal form, as erst I saw it, come witharms outstretched and Love's own light shining in her eyes, with lipsapart and flowing locks, and stamped upon her face the look of uttertenderness that she alone could wear. Ay, still, after all the years, Iseem to see her come as erst she came, and still I wake to know her anunutterable lie!
And thus one day she came. She had fled in haste, she said, from somegreat council summoned concerning the wars of Antony in Syria, andshe came, as she had left the council, in all her robes of state, thesceptre in her hand, and on her brow the uraeus diadem of gold. There shesat before me, laughing; for, wearying of them, she had told the envoysto whom she gave audience in the council that she was called from theirpresence by a sudden message come from Rome; and the jest seemed merryto her. Suddenly she rose, took the diadem from her brow, and set iton my hair, and on my shoulders her royal mantle, and in my hand thesceptre, and bowed the knee before me. Then, laughing again, she kissedme on the lips, and said I was indeed her King. But, remembering howI had been crowned in the halls of Abouthis, and remembering also thatwreath of roses of which the odour haunts me yet, I rose, pale withwrath, and cast the trinkets from me, asking how she dared to mockme--her caged bird. And I think there was that about me which startledher, for she fell back.
"Nay, Harmachis," she said, "be not wroth! How knowest thou that I mockthee? How knowest thou that thou shalt not be Pharaoh in fact and deed?"
"What meanest thou?" I said. "Wilt thou, then, wed me before Egypt? Howelse can I be Pharaoh now?"
She cast down her eyes. "Perchance, love, it is in my mind to wed thee,"she said gently. "Listen," she went on: "Thou growest pale, here, inthis prison, and thou dost eat little. Gainsay me not! I know it fromthe slaves. I have kept thee here, Harmachis, for thy own sake, that isso dear to me; and for thy own sake, and thy honour's sake, thou muststill seem to be my prisoner. Else wouldst thou be shamed and slain--ay,murdered secretly. But I can meet thee here no more! therefore to-morrowI shall free thee in all, save in the name, and thou shalt once more beseen at Court as my astronomer. And I will give this reason--that thouhast cleared thyself; and, moreover, that thy auguries as regards thewar have been auguries of truth--as, indeed, they have, though forthis I have no cause to thank thee, seeing that thou didst suit thyprophecies to fit thy cause. Now, farewell; for I must return to thoseheavy-browed ambassadors; and grow not so sudden wroth, Harmachis, forwho knows what may come to pass betwixt thee and me?"
And, with a little nod, she went, leaving it on my mind that she had itin her heart to wed me openly. And of a truth, I believe that, at thishour, such was her thought. For, if she loved me not, still she held medear, and as yet she had not wearied of me.
On the morrow Cleopatra came not, but Charmion came--Charmion, whomI had not seen since that fatal night of ruin. She entered and stoodbefore me, with pale face and downcast eyes, and her first words werewords of bitterness.
"Pardon me," she said, in her gentle voice, "in that I dare to come tothee in Cleopatra's place. Thy joy is not delayed for long, for thoushalt see her presently."
I shrank at her words, as well I might, and, seeing her vantage, sheseized it.
"I come, Harmachis--royal no more!--I come to say that thou art free!Thou art free to face thine own infamy, and see it thrown back fromevery eye which trusted thee, as shadows are from water. I come to tellthee that the great plot--the plot of twenty years and more--is at itsutter end. None have been slain, indeed, unless it is Sepa, who hasvanished. But all the leaders have been seized and put in chains, ordriven from the land, and their party is broken and scattered. The stormhas melted before it burst. Egypt is lost, and lost for ever, for herlast hope is gone! No longer may she struggle--now for all time shemust bow her neck to the yoke, and bare her back to the rod of theoppressor!"
I groaned aloud. "Alas, I was betrayed!" I said. "Paulus betrayed us."
"Thou wast betrayed? Nay, thou thyself wast the betrayer! How came itthat thou didst not slay Cleopatra when thou wast alone with her? Speak,thou forsworn!"
"She drugged me," I said again.
"O Harmachis!" answered the pitiless girl, "how low art thou fallen fromthat Prince whom once I knew!--thou who dost not scorn to be a liar!Yea, thou wast drugged--drugged with a love-philtre! Yea, thou didstsell Egypt and thy cause for the price of a wanton's kiss! Thou Sorrowand thou Shame!" she went on, pointing her finger at me and lifting hereyes to my face, "thou Scorn!--thou Outcast!--and thou Contempt! Denyif it thou canst. Ay, shrink from me--knowing what thou art, well maystthou shrink! Crawl to Cleopatra's feet, and kiss her sandals till suchtime as it pleases her to trample thee in thy kindred dirt; but from allhonest folk _shrink!_--_shrink!_"
My soul quivered beneath the lash of her bitter scorn and hate, but Ihad no words to answer.
"How comes it," I said at last in a heavy voice, "that thou, too, artnot betrayed, but art still here to taunt me, thou who once didstswear that thou didst love me? Being a woman, hast thou no pity for thefrailty of man?"
"My name was not on the lists," she said, dropping her dark eyes. "Hereis an opportunity: betray me also, Harmachis! Ay, it is because I onceloved thee--dost thou, indeed, remember it?--that I feel thy fall themore. The shame of one whom we have loved must in some sort become ourshame, and must ever cling to us, because we blindly held a thing sobase close to our inmost heart. Art thou also, then, a fool? Wouldstthou, fresh from thy royal wanton's arms, come to me for comfort--to_me_ of all the world?"
"How know I," I said, "that it was not thou who, in thy jealous anger,didst betray our plans? Charmion, long ago Sepa warned me against thee,and of a truth now that I recall----"
"It is like a traitor," she broke in, reddening to her brow, "to thinkthat all are of his family, and hold a common mind! Nay, I betrayed theenot; it was that poor knave, Paulus, whose heart failed him at the last,and who is rightly served. Nor will I stay to hear thoughts so base.Harmachis--royal no more!--Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, bids me say thatthou art free, and that she waits thee in the Alabaster Hall."
And shooting one swift glance through her long lashes she cu
rtsied andwas gone.