Apprehension? No; it could not be that she felt but a new sense of
loneliness; of that isolation which contact with strange faces
emphasized. What had come over her? she asked herself. She who had
been so self-sufficient; whose nature now seemed filled with sudden
yearnings and restlessness, impatience--she knew not what. She who
thought she had partaken so abundantly of life's cup abruptly
discovered renewed sources for disquietude. With welling heart she
watched the sun go down; the glory of the widely-radiating hues give
way to the pall of night. Upon her young shoulders the mantle of
darkness seemed to rest so heavily she bowed her head in her hands.

"A maid and a fool! Ah, foolish maid!" whispered the wanton breeze.

The pale light of the stars played upon her, and the dews fell, until
involuntarily shivering with the cold, she arose. As she walked by the
emperor's quarters she noticed a figure silhouetted on the canvas
walls; to and fro the shadow moved, shapeless, grotesque, yet eloquent
of life's vexation of spirit. Turning into her own tent, the jestress
lighted the wick of a silver lamp; a faint aroma of perfume swept
through the air. It seemed to soothe her--or was it but
weariness?--and shortly she threw herself on the silken couch and sank
to dreamless slumber.

When she awoke, the bright-hued dome of the tent was aglow in the
morning sun; the reflected radiance bathed her face and form; her
heaviness of heart had taken wings. The little lamp was still burning,
but the fresh fragrance of dawn had replaced the subtile odor of the
oriental essence. Upon the rug a single streak of sunshine was
creeping toward her. In the brazier which had warmed her tent the
glowing bark and cinnamon had turned to cold, white ash.

Through the girl's veins the blood coursed rapidly; a few moments she
lay in the rosy effulgence, restfully conscious that danger had fled
and that she was bulwarked by the emperor's favor, when a sudden
thought broke upon this half-wakeful mood, and caused her to spring,
all alert, from her couch. To dress, with her had never been a matter
of great duration. The hair of the joculatrix naturally rippled into
such waves as were the envy of the court ladies; her supple fingers
adjusted garment after garment with swift precision, while her figure
needed no device to lend grace to the investment.

Soon, therefore, had she left her tent, making her way through the
awakening camp. I