Sobbing violently, she bent over the inanimate form, closed the eyes, and
kissed the lips and brow. The weeping Charmian did the same.

Then the footsteps of men were heard in the anteroom, and Iras, who was
the first to notice them, cried eagerly:

"The moment is approaching! I am glad it is close at hand. Does it not
seem to you also as if the very sun in the heavens was darkened?"
Charmian nodded assent, and whispered, "The poison?"

"Here!" replied Iras calmly, holding out a plain pin. "One little
prick, and the deed will be done. Look! But no. You once inflicted the
deepest suffering upon me. You know--Dion, the playmate of my childhood
--It is forgiven. But now--you will do me a kindness. You will spare my
using the pin myself. Will you not? I will repay you. If you wish, my
hand shall render you the same service."

Charmian clasped her niece to her heart, kissed her, pricked her arm
lightly, and gave her the other pin, saying:

"Now it is your turn. Our hearts were filled with love for one who
understood how to bestow it as none other ever did, and our love was
returned. What matters all else that we sacrificed? Those on whom the
sun shines need no other light. Love is pain," she said in dying, "but
this pain--especially that of renunciation for love's sake--bears with it
a joy, an exquisite joy, which renders death easy. To me it seems as if
it were merely following the Queen to--Oh, that hurt!" Iras's pin had
pricked her.

The poison did its work quickly. Iras was seized with giddiness, and