"Was the winter we have just experienced intended to fill us with twofold gratitude for the delights of the mild spring in this blessed room ?" "Perhaps so," she answered sullenly, and then added in a low tone: "Here at Lochias the seasons do not follow their usual course.

They change according to the pleasure of the supreme will.

Instead of four, the Egyptians, as you know, have but three; in the palaces on the Nile they are countless.

What is the meaning of this sudden entry of summer?
Winter would have pleased me better." The Queen--Iras knew not why--had changed her arrangements for Barine's reception.

This vexed her, and her features assumed a gloomy, threatening expression as the young beauty, casting aside her cloak and kerchief, stood awaiting Cleopatra in a white robe of fine material and perfect fit.