er strange protector now turned the
flickering wood on the damp hearth and with a reddening face blew up the
dying charcoal-fire, and again walked restlessly up and down, and paused
each time he passed the entrance to the cave, to throw a longing glance
at the light which shone out from Sirona's sleeping-room.

Since the moment when he had flung Polykarp to the ground, Paulus had not
succeeded in recovering his self-command; not for a moment had he
regretted the deed, for the reflection had never occurred to him, that a
fall on the stony soil of the Sacred Mountain, which was as hard as iron,
must hurt more than a fall on the' sand of the arena.

"The impudent fellow," thought he, "richly deserved what he got. Who gave
him a better right over Sirona than he, Paulus himself, had--he who had
saved her life, and had taken it upon himself to protect her?" Her great
beauty had charmed him from the first moment of their meeting, but no
impure thought stirred his heart as he gazed at her with delight, and
listened with emotion to her childlike talk. It was the hot torrent of
Polykarp's words that had first thrown the spark into his soul, which
jealousy and the dread of having to abandon Sirona to another, had soon
fanned into a consuming flame. He would not give up this woman, he would
continue to care for her every need, she should owe everything to him,
and to him only. And so, without reserve, he devoted himself body and
soul to the preparations for her flight. The hot breath of the storm, the
thunder and lightning, torrents of rain, and blackness of night could not
delay him, while he leaped from rock to rock, feeling his way-soaked
through, weary and in peril; he thought only of her, and of how he could
most safely carry her to Alexandria, and then surround her with all that
could charm a woman's taste. Nothing--nothing did he desire for himself,
and all that he dreamed of and planned turned only and exclusively on the
pleasure which he might afford her. When he had prepared and lighted the
lamp for her he saw her again, and was startled at the beauty of the face
that the trembling flame revealed. He could observe her a few seconds
only, and then she had vanished, and he must remain alone in the darkness
and the rain. He walked restlessly up and down, and an agonizing longing
once more to see her face lighted up by the pale flame, and the white arm
that she had held out to take the lamp, grew more and more strong in him
a