"

As the auctioneer started on his peroration those among the crowd who
were here for business, and not for idle gaping, turned back towards the
catasta. But the little maid who stood there so still, her hair entirely
hidden by the ungainly hat, her head bent and her eyes downcast, did not
seem very attractive; the lack of guarantee as to her skill and merits
represented by the hat and the absence of the tablet round her neck
caused the buyers to stand aloof.

As if conscious of this, a deep blush suffused the girl's cheeks. Not
that she was ashamed of her position or of her exposure before the
public gaze, for to this ordeal her whole upbringing had tended. Born in
slavery, she had always envisaged this possibility, and her present
position caused her in itself neither pain nor humiliation.

She knew that her mother was there in the crowd, ready for this
opportunity; that the present state of discomfort, the past life of
wretchedness would now inevitably be followed by a brighter future:
reunion with her mother, a life of freedom, mayhap of happiness,
marriage right out of the state of bondage, children born free!

No! it was not the gaping crowd that mattered, the exposure on the
public platform, the many pairs of indifferent eyes fixed none too
kindly upon her: it was that hat upon her head which brought forth in
her such a sense of shame that the hot blood rushed to her cheeks; that,
and the absence of the tablet round her neck, and Hun Rhavas'
disparaging words about her person.

Others there had been earlier in the day--her former companions in
Arminius' household--on whom the auctioneer had lavished torrents of
eloquent praise, whom for the first bidding he had appraised at forty or
even fifty aurei, the public being over willing to pay higher sums than
those.

Whilst here she stood shamed before them all, with no guarantee as to
her skill and talents, though she knew something about the art of
healing by rubbing unguents into the skin, could ply her needle and
dress a lady's hair. Nor was a word said about her beauty, though her
eyes were blue and her neck slender and white; and her hair, which was
of a pretty shade of gold, could not even be seen under that hideous,
unbecoming hat.

"Ten aurei shall we say?" said Hun Rhavas with remarkable want of
enthusiasm; "kind sirs, is there no one ready to say fifteen? The girl
might be taught to sew or to trim a lady's nails. She may be unskilled
now but she mi