h the spectators were to see the ghosts through a small opening.

"The Syrian had desired her to put up so many and such prayers for the
congregation in its peril from Caesar; and, by Aphrodite! she was as
docile as a lamb. She fell on her knees, and with hands and eyes to
heaven entreated her god. But hark!

"Did you hear anything? Something is stirring within. Well, I have
nearly done.

"The philosopher was to see her thus, and when he had gazed at her as
if bewitched for some little time through the small window, he suddenly
cried out, 'Korinna! Korinna!' and all sorts of nonsense, although
Serapion had strictly forbidden him to utter a sound. Of course, the
curtain instantly dropped. But Agatha had heard him call, and in a great
fright she wanted to know where she was, and asked to go home.--Serapion
was really grand. You should have heard how the fox soothed the dove,
and at the same time whispered to me what you now are to do!"

"I?" said the woman, with some annoyance. "If he thinks that I will risk
my good name in the congregation for the sake of his long beard--"

"Just be quiet," said Castor, in a pacifying tone. "The master's beard
has nothing to do with the case, but something much more substantial.
Ten solidi, full weight, shall be yours if you will take Agatha home
with you, or safe across the lake again, and pretend to have saved her
from mystics or magicians who have decoyed her to some evil end. She
knows you as a Christian deaconess, and will go with you at once. If you
restore her to her father, he is rich, and will not send you empty away.
Tell him that you heard her voice out in the street, and with the help
of a worthy old man--that am I--rescued her from any peril you may
invent. If he asks you where the heroic deed was done, name any house
you please, only not this. Your best plan is to lay it all on the
shoulders of Hananja, the thaumaturgist; we have owed him a grudge this
many a day. However, I was not to teach you any lesson, for your wits
are at least a match for ours."

"Flattery will not win me," the woman broke in. "Where is the gold?"

Castor handed her the solidi wrapped in a papyrus leaf, and then added:

"Stay one moment! I must remove this white robe. The girl must on no
account recognize me. I am going to force my way into the house with
you--you found me in the street, an old man, a total stranger, and
appealed to me for help. No harm is done, nothing lost but Dorothea's
cr