ensitive you are!" said Marthana softly. "Sirona is as kind and
sweet as an angel; but you had better look at her rather less, for she is
not one of us, and repulsive as the choleric centurion is to me--"

She said no more, for Dame Dorothea, having reached the door of the
sitting-room, looked around for her children.

Petrus received his wife with no less gravity than was usual with him,
but there was an arch sparkle in his half closed eyes as he asked: "You
scarcely know what is going on, I suppose?"

"You are madmen, who would fain take Heaven by storm," she answered
gaily.

"If the undertaking fails," said Petrus, pointing to his sons, "those
young ones will feel the loss longer than we shall."

"But it will succeed," cried Dorothea. "An old commander and young
soldiers can win any battle." She held out her small plump hand with
frank briskness to her husband, he clasped it cheerily and said: "I think
I can carry the project for the road through the Senate. To build our
bridge we must also procure helping hands, and for that we need your aid,
Dorothea. Our slaves will not suffice."

"Wait," cried the lady eagerly; she went to the window and called,
"Jethro, Jethro!"

The person thus addressed, the old house-steward, appeared, and Dorothea
began to discuss with him as to which of the inhabitants of the oasis
might be disposed to let them have some able-bodied men, and whether it
might not be possible to employ one or another of the house-slaves at the
building.

All that she said was judicious and precise, and showed that she herself
superintended her household in every detail, and was accustomed to
command with complete freedom.

"That tall Anubis then is really indispensable in the stable?" she asked
in conclusion. The steward, who up to this moment had spoken shortly and
intelligently, hesitated to answer; at the same time he looked up at
Petrus, who, sunk in the contemplation of the plan, had his back to him;
his glance, and a deprecating movement, expressed very clearly that he
had something to tell, but feared to speak in the presence of his master.
Dame Dorothea was quick of comprehension, and she quite understood
Jethro's meaning; it was for that very reason that she said with more of
surprise than displeasure: "What does the man mean with his winks? What I
may hear, Petrus may hear too."

The senator turned, and looked at the steward from head to foot with so
dark a glance, that he drew back, and