made her appearance, in defiance of Gorgo, dropping
like a shooting-star into the midst of their practising. It never
occurred to her to fancy that the young lady had any personal dislike to
her, for, though she might be ignored and forgotten, who had ever had any
but a kind word for her. At the same time she assumed the right of
feeling that "she could not bear" the haughty Gorgo, and as the party set
out she exclaimed to Agne, "Well, you need not kill her for me, but at
any rate, I send her no greeting; it is a shame that I should be left to
mope alone with Herse. Do not be surprised if you find me turned to a
stark, brown mummy--for we are in Egypt, you know, the land of mummies. I
bequeath my old dress to you, my dear, for I know you would never put on
the new one. If you bewail me as you ought I will visit you in a dream,
and put a sugarplum in your mouth--a cake of ambrosia such as the gods
eat. You are not even leaving me Papias to tease!"

For in fact Agne's little brother, dressed in a clean garment, was to be
taken to Gorgo who had expressed a wish to see him.

When they had all left the ship Dada soon betrayed how superficial her
indignation had been; for, presently spying through the window of the
cabin the young cavalry officer's grey-bearded father, she sprang up the
narrow steps--barefoot as she was accustomed to be when at home--and
threw herself on a cushion to lean over the gunwale of the upper deck,
which was shaded by a canvas awning, to watch the ship-yard and the
shore-path. Before she had begun to weary of this occupation the
waiting-slave, who had been up to the house to put various matters in
order, came back to the vessel, and squatting down at her feet was ready
to give her all the information she chose to require. Dada's first
questions naturally related to Gorgo. The young mistress, said the slave,
had already dismissed many suitors, the sons of the greatest families of
Alexandria, and if her suspicions--those of Sachepris, the slave--were
well founded, all for the sake of the old shipbuilder's son, whom she had
known from childhood and who was now an officer in the Imperial guard.
However, as she opined, this attachment could hardly lead to marriage,
since Constantine was a zealous Christian and his family were
immeasurably beneath that of Porphyrius in rank; and though he had
distinguished himself greatly and risen to the grade of Prefect, Damia,
who on all occasions had the casting-vote,