lliance by the way, pleasant for
the hour, soon forgotten. Sorry sport for a wife, you see! There you
have him, as I, his father, know him. And how can I, his father, say
these things of him, who should stand with him against all the world?
Because he needs not my help to win his battles; and there is one who in
my mind may need it sorely."

And again there was a silence. Eudemius rose.

"Thank thee, friend," he said. "Thy words have made me to hunger all the
more for that son of thine. Mine also he shall be, if I can compass it.
What need he give her but a name?--and that, in good sooth, it will not
hurt him to bestow."

He turned on his heel and went away; and Livinius looked after him long
and gravely.

When Marius entered, some time later, it was to find his father alone
and in deep thought. Marius inquired how he had been feeling that day,
and if he thought his strength returning. Livinius answered
abstractedly. He was aware that Eudemius's plan was taking root in his
mind; coming to weigh its pros and cons, he found that after all it
might not be such a bad thing for Marius--and himself. He motioned
Marius to seat himself. Marius obeyed, waiting for what his father might
have to say. But Livinius kept his abstracted silence, and presently
Marius himself spoke.

"Will Eudemius return with you to Rome?"

Livinius shook his head thoughtfully.

"I fear not. I have tried to persuade him, but--I think his plans lie
here. For one thing, he does not like the idea of going back with that
daughter of his."

Marius turned a slow glance on his father.

"It is a pity about that girl," he said indifferently. "She is very
fair--as fair as any of Rome's beauties."

"And as wealthy. When her father hath undergone his fate, his estates
will pass to her," said Livinius. He did not look at his son, and his
voice was careless.

"It is a pity," Marius repeated, noncommittally. Livinius put his own
construction upon the words.

"You mean--her misfortune? Ay, true. But many a man would overlook even
that for sake of the gold she would bring him."

"And that is true also," Marius said. "And yet--it were a risky thing
for a man to give his sons a mother found so wanting."

So that Livinius knew that Marius's thoughts, like his own, had strayed
into those paths wherein Eudemius would lead them. He changed the
subject then, speaking of the delayed transport and affairs in Gaul.
Then he became weary, being still weak, and M