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Cleopatra — Volume 05 by Georg Ebers
page 19 of 34 (55%)
Queen swiftly computed the years which Barine must have lived as the
wife of Philostratus, and afterwards as the attractive mistress of a
hospitable house, and found it difficult to reconcile the appearance of
this blooming young creature with the result of the calculation.

She was surprised, too, to note the aristocratic bearing whose possession
no one could deny the artist's daughter. This was apparent even in her
dress, yet Iras had roused her in the middle of the night, and certainly
had given her no time for personal adornment.

She had expected lack of refinement and boldness, in the woman who was
said to have attracted so many men, but even the most bitter prejudice
could have detected no trace of it. On the contrary, the embarrassment
which she could not yet wholly subdue lent her an air of girlish
timidity. All in all, Barine was a charming creature, who bewitched men
by her vivacity, her grace, and her exquisite voice, not by coquetry and
pertness. That she possessed unusual mental endowments Cleopatra did not
believe. Barine had only one advantage over her--youth.

Time had not yet robbed the former of a single charm, while from the
Queen he had wrested many; their number was known only to herself and her
confidantes, but at this hour she did not miss them.

Barine, with a low, modest bow, advanced towards the Queen, who commenced
the conversation by graciously apologizing for the late hour at which she
had summoned her. "But," she added, "you belong to the ranks of the
nightingales, who during the night most readily and exquisitely reveal to
us what stirs their hearts--"

Barine gazed silently at the floor a moment, and when she raised her eyes
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