Sardou's Cleopatra — page 184: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

SARDOU’S CLEOPATRA. 169 form, she turned and moved. down the beach to where her boat lay moored. After she had entered it, and the boat, propelled by its sturdy oarsmen, was moving slowly toward the open sea where lay Octavius’ fleet, the fair- haired girl touched the other lightly and rever- ently upon the arm. “Beloved mistress,” she said, “be reassured. She has gone.” As if the gentle touch had been the sting of an adder, the other started violently, and with a quick motion flung back her vail, revealing, as she did so, the face of the most beautiful woman in the world, Octavia’s dreaded rival—but a a face that was now pale as death and convulsed with violent emotion. With a strained, far-away look in her lovely dark eyes, she watched the receding boat, her breath coming quick and fast with the feelings of anger and shame that filled her breast. “What!” she thought. “It is true, then? I— I, the daughter of kings, have blushed—blushed for the first time! A word from that woman’s lips has overwhelmed me. She questioned me, and I did not dare to answer her, nor even to cast one look upon her face. I was afraid of my voice, a Gomicbooks (E(e)