She did so, feeling, perhaps, some misgivings in respect to the danger which such a step might possibly bring upon her absent boy.

She quieted herself, however, by the thought that he was in the hands of his own father, and that he could not possibly come to harm.
After some little time had elapsed, and Cleopatra was beginning to be well established in her possession of the supreme power at Alexandria, her birth-day approached, and arrangements were made for celebrating it in the most magnificent manner.

When the day arrived, the whole city was given up to festivities and rejoicing.

Grand entertainments were given in the palace, and games, spectacles, and plays in every variety, were exhibited and performed in all quarters of the city.

Cleopatra herself was enjoying a magnificent entertainment, given to the lords and ladies of the court and the officers of her army, in one of the royal palaces.
In the midst of this scene of festivity and pleasure, it was announced to the queen that a large box had arrived for her.