question:

"Was she not marvellously beautiful at that time?"

"As your father's work represents her," was the reply. "Leonax painted
the portrait of Octavia, on the opposite side, the same year, and perhaps
the artist deemed the Roman the fairer woman." He pointed as he spoke to
a likeness of Octavianus's sister, whom Barine's father had painted as
the young wife of Marcellus, her first husband.

"Oh, no!" said Berenike. "I still remember perfectly how Leonax
returned in those days. What woman might not have been jealous of his
enthusiasm for the Roman Hera? At that time I had not seen the portrait,
and when I asked whether he thought Octavia more beautiful than the
Queen, for whom Eros had inflamed his heart, as in the case of most of
the beautiful women he painted, he exclaimed--you know his impetuous
manner--'Octavia stands foremost in the ranks of those who are called
"beautiful" or "less beautiful"; the other, Cleopatra, stands alone, and
can be compared with no one.'"

Archibius bent his head in assent, then said firmly, "But, as a child,
when I first saw her, she would have been the fairest even in the dance
of the young gods of love."

"How old was she then?" asked Barine, eagerly.

"Eight years," he answered. "How far in the past it is, yet I have not
forgotten a single hour! "Barine now earnestly entreated him to tell
them the story of those days, but Archibius gazed thoughtfully at the
floor for some time ere he raised his head and answered: "Perhaps it will