"I'm half sorry it didn't go on,
and I'm sure it wouldn't have been any worse than compelling Brutus to
fall on his sword until he resembles a chicken liver _en brochette_, as is
done in that Julius Caesar play."
"Well, I'm very glad I did it," snapped Portia.
"I should think you would be," said Cleopatra. "If you hadn't done it,
you'd never have been known. What was that?"
The boat had given a slight lurch.
"Didn't you hear a shuffling noise up on deck, Portia?" asked the Egyptian
Queen.
"I thought I did, and it seemed as if the vessel had moved a bit,"
returned Portia, nervously; for, like most women in an advanced state of
development, she had become a martyr to her nerves.
"It was merely the wash from one of Charon's new ferry-boats, I fancy,"
said Elizabeth, calmly. "It's disgusting, the way that old fellow allows
these modern innovations to be brought in here! As if the old paddle-boats
he used to carry shades in weren't good enough for the immigrants of this
age! Really this Styx River is losing a great deal of its charm. Sir
Walter and I were upset, while out rowing one day last summer, by the
waves kicked up by one of Charon's excursion steamers going up the river
with a party of picnickers from the city--the Greater Gehenna Chowder
Club, I believe it was--on board of her. One might just as well live in
the midst of the turmoil of a great city as try to get uninterrupted quiet
here in the suburbs in these days.
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