Sardou's Cleopatra — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

10 i SARDOU’S CLEOPATRA, — Not far from the portico, a little isolated from the crowd, stood two men engaged in earnest con- versation. The one was a man of about sixty, wearing a mantle of plain brown cloth over a bat- tered and dented armor. His face, with its griz- zled beard and shaggy eyebrows, in spite of the numerous scars that told of many a hard-fought contest, bore the impress of sturdy honesty and rugged manliness. His companion was much younger, not more than thirty, with the dark eyes and tawny complexion of the people of a sunny clime, and dressed with somewhat of foppish ele- gance in a tunic of embroidered linen, over which fell a long cloak of scarlet cloth with fringe of gold. He was an Egyptian, Diomedes by name, who had been sent as an ambassador to announce ' the coming of his royal mistress. “Tt will go ill with Egypt,” said the soldier, with an ominous shake of the head, “if the queen fails to appear. Antony is in no mood for tri- fling.” “Have no fear, Ventidius. She will be here, though possibly it were better for your master did she refuse.” “T do not understand.” The Egyptian smiled slyly. } ’ _— /¢comicbooks.co