tly overtaken a little train of white-robed men
moving forward at a solemn pace, whom the painter recognized as the
philosophical and religious fraternity of the Neo-Pythagoreans, when a
small knot of men and women in the greatest excitement came rushing past
as if they were mad. The men wore the loose red caps of their Phrygian
land; the women carried bowls full of fruits. Some beat small drums,
others clanged cymbals, and each hauled his neighbor along with
deafening cries, faster and faster, till the dust hid them from sight
and a new din drowned the last, for the votaries of Dionysus were
already close upon them, and vied with the Phrygians in uproariousness.
But this wild troop remained behind; for one of the light-colored oxen,
covered with decorations, which was being driven in the procession by
a party of men and boys, to be presently sacrificed, had broken away,
maddened by the lights and the shouting, and had to be caught and led
again.

At last they reached the graveyard. But even now they could not make
their way to the long row of houses where the embalmers dwelt, for an
impenetrable mass of human beings stood pent up in front of them, and
Melissa begged her brother to give her a moment's breathing space.

All she had seen and heard on the way had excited her greatly; but she
had scarcely for a moment forgotten what it was that had brought her out
so late, who it was that she sought, or that it would need her utmost
endeavor to free him from the delusion that had fooled him. In this
dense throng and deafening tumult it was scarcely possible to recover
that collected calm which she had found in the morning at her mother's
tomb. In that, doubt had had no part, and the delightful feeling of
freedom which had shone on her soul, now shrank deep into the shade
before a growing curiosity and the longing for her usual repose.

If her father were to find her here! When she saw a tall figure
resembling his cross the torchlight, all clouded as it was by the dust,
she drew her brother away behind the stall of a seller of drinks and
other refreshments. The father, at any rate, must be spared the distress
she felt about Philip, who was his favorite. Besides, she knew full well
that, if he met her here, he would at once take her home.

The question now was where Philip might be found.

They were standing close to the booths where itinerant dealers sold
food and liquors of every description, flowers and wreaths, amulet