mbassadors, and the
various dispatches from the senate, he asked for her even at the door
of the tablinum. He had seen her from the balcony looking out on the
square; so she had witnessed the reception his soldiers had given him.
The magnificent spectacle must have impressed her and filled her with
joy. He was anxious to hear all this from her own lips, before he
settled down to work.

Adverntus whispered to him where he had taken her, to avoid the
persecuting glances of the numerous strangers, and Caracalla nodded to
him approvingly and went into the next room.

She sat there with the zithern, letting her fingers glide gently over
the strings.

On his entering, she drew back hastily; but he cried to her brightly:
"Do not disturb yourself. I love that instrument. I am having a statue
erected to Mesomedes, the great zithern-player--you perhaps know his
songs. This evening, when the feast and the press of work are over, I
will hear how you play. I will also playa few airs to you."

Melissa then plucked up courage and said, decidedly: "No, my lord; I am
about to bid you farewell for to-day."

"That sounds very determined," he answered, half surprised and half
amused. "But may I be allowed to know what has made you decide on this
step?"

"There is a great deal of work waiting for you," she replied, quietly.

"That is my affair, not yours," was the crushing answer.

"It is also mine," she said, endeavoring to keep calm; "for you have
not yet completely recovered, and, should you require my help again this
evening, I could not attend to your call."

"No?" he asked, wrathfully, and his eyelids began to twitch.

"No, my lord; for it would not be seemly in a maiden to visit you by
night, unless you were ill and needed nursing. As it is, I shall meet
your friends--my heart stands still only to think of it--"

"I will teach them what is due to you!" Caracalla bellowed out, and his
brow was knit once more.

"But you can not compel me," she replied, firmly, "to change my mind
as to what is seemly," and the courage which failed her if she met a
spider, but which stood by her in serious danger as a faithful ally,
made her perfectly steadfast as she eagerly added: "Not an hour since
you promised me that so long as I remained with you I should need no
other protector, and might count on your gratitude. But those were mere
words, for, when I besought you to grant me some repose, you scorned my
very reasonable request, and