Ah well! I fooled thee, and I fooled Caesar--perchance before all is done
Fate will find me, and myself I shall be fooled. Harmachis, fare thee
well!"
She turned to go, and as she turned I heard the sweep of another dress
and the light fall of another woman's foot.
"Ah! it is thou, Charmion. Well, for all thy watching the man dies."
"Ay," she answered, in a voice thick with grief. "Ay, O Queen, so the
physicians say. Forty hours has he lain in stupor so deep that at times
his breath could barely lift this tiny feather's weight, and hardly
could my ear, placed against his breast, take notice of the rising of
his heart. I have watched him now for ten long days, watched him day and
night, till my eyes stare wide with want of sleep, and for faintness
I can scarce keep myself from falling. And this is the end of all my
labour! The coward blow of that accursed Brennus has done its work, and
Harmachis dies!"
"Love counts not its labour, Charmion, nor can it weight its tenderness
on the scale of purchase. That which it has it gives, and craves for
more to give and give, till the soul's infinity be drained. Dear to thy
heart are these heavy nights of watching; sweet to thy weary eyes
is that sad sight of strength brought so low that it hangs upon thy
weakness like a babe to its mother's breast! For, Charmion, thou dost
love this man who loves thee not, and now that he is helpless thou canst
pour thy passion forth over the unanswering darkness of his soul, and
cheat thyself with dreams of what yet might be.
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