ut with urgent emphasis:

"I will let you glance into this bosom, closed to every other eye; for
my desolate heart is inspired by you to fresh energy and life; I am as
grateful to you as a drowning man to his deliverer. I shall suffocate
and die if I repress the impulse to open my heart to you!"

What change was this that had come over this mysterious being? Melissa
felt as though she was gazing on the face of a stranger, for, though his
eyelids still quivered, his eyes were bright with ecstatic fire and his
features looked more youthful. On that noble brow the laurel wreath
he wore looked well. Also, as she now observed, he was magnificently
attired; he wore a close-fitting tunic, or breast-plate made of thick
woolen stuff, and over it a purple mantle, while from his bare throat
hung a precious medallion, shield-shaped, and set in gold and gems, the
center formed by a large head of Medusa, with beautiful though terrible
features. The lion-heads of gold attached to each corner of the short
cloak he wore over the sham coat of mail, were exquisite works of art,
and sandals embroidered with gold and gems covered his feet and ankles.
He was dressed to-day like the heir of a lordly house, anxious to charm;
nay, indeed, like an emperor, as he was; and with what care had his
body-slave arranged his thin curls!

He passed his hand over his brow and cast a glance at a silver mirror on
the low table at the head of his couch. When he turned to her again his
amorous eyes met Melissa's.

She looked down in startled alarm. Was it for her sake that Caesar
had thus decked himself and looked in the mirror? It seemed scarcely
possible, and yet it flattered and pleased her. But in the next instant
she longed more fervently than she ever had before for a magic charm
by which she might vanish and be borne far, far away from this dreadful
man. In fancy she saw the vessel which the lady Berenike had in
readiness. She would, she must fly hence, even if it should part her for
a time from Diodoros.

Did Caracalla read her thought? Nay, he could not see through her; so
she endured his gaze, tempting him to speak; and his heart beat high
with hope as he fancied he saw that she was beginning to be affected by
his intense agitation. At this moment he felt convinced, as he often
had been, that the most atrocious of his crimes had been necessary and
inevitable. There was something grand and vast in his deeds of blood,
and that--for he flattered h