Melissa listens to the emperor, she will need no
other confederate than the boy Eros; if, however, she takes flight--then
woe betide those who are within range of the tyrant's arm, and ten times
woe to me who brought the fugitive before his notice! Early to-morrow,
before Caracalla leaves his couch, I shall return with the messengers to
Julia; my place in the ship--"

"O my lord," interrupted Melissa, in consternation, "if you, my kind
protector, forsake me, to whom shall I look for help?"

"You will not require it if you carry out your intentions," said the
philosopher. "Throughout this day you will doubtless need me; and let me
impress upon you once more to behave before Caracalla in such a manner
that even his suspicious mind may not guess what you intend to do.
To-day you will still find me ready to help you. But, hark! That is
Caesar raging again. It is thus he loves to dismiss ambassadors, when
he wishes they should clearly understand that their conditions are not
agreeable to him. And one word more: When a man has grown gray, it is
doubly soothing to his heart that a lovely maiden should so frankly
regret the parting. I was ever a friend of your amiable sex, and even to
this day Eros is sometimes not unfavorably inclined to me. But you, the
more charming you are, the more deeply do I regret that I may not be
more to you than an old and friendly mentor. But pity at first kept love
from speaking, and then the old truth that every woman's heart may be
won save that which already belongs to another."

The elderly admirer of the fair sex spoke these words in such a
pleasant, regretful tone that Melissa gave him an affectionate glance
from her large, bright eyes, and answered, archly: "Had Eros shown
Philostratus the way to Melissa instead of Diodoros, Philostratus might
now be occupying the place in this heart which belongs to the son of
Polybius, and which must always be his in spite of Caesar!"

CHAPTER XXIV.

The door of the tablinum flew open, and through it streamed the Parthian
ambassadors, seven stately personages, wearing the gorgeous costume
of their country, and followed by an interpreter and several scribes.
Melissa noticed how one of them, a young warrior with a fair beard
framing his finely molded, heroic face, and thick, curling locks
escaping from beneath his tiara, grasped the hilt of his sword in
his sinewy hand, and how his neighbor, a cautious, elderly man, was
endeavoring to calm him.