Cornelia could just catch the profile of a young woman seated between them.

The face was not quite regular, but marvellously intelligent and sensitive; the skin not pale, yet far from dark, and perfectly healthy and clear; the eyes restive and piercing.

The queen was dressed plainly in Greek fashion; her himation was white, her only ornament a great diamond that was blazing like a star on her breast.

Upon the coils of her heavy, dark hair sat a golden circlet faced in front with the likeness of the head of the venomous uraeus snake--the emblem of Egyptian royalty.

This was all Cornelia could observe in the brief time the queen was in view.