the veil over her pallid face,
asked with quivering lips, "And is there no other Arachne?"

"Not among mortals," was the reply, "but even here in this house there
are more than enough of the disagreeable, creeping creatures which bear
the same name."

Ledscha now went clown the steps which led to the lawn, and Bias saw that
she stumbled on the last one and would have fallen had not her lithe body
regained its balance in time.

"A bad omen!" thought the slave. "If I had the power to build a wall
between my master and the spider yonder, it should be higher than the
lighthouse of Sostratus. To heed omens guides one safely through life. I
know what I know, and will keep my eyes open, for my master too."

CHAPTER IX.

Hermon had intended to add a few more touches to his Demeter, but he
could not do it. Ledscha, her demand, and the resentment with which she
had left him, were not to be driven from his mind.

There was no doubt that he must seek her if he was not to lose her, yet
he reproached himself for having acted like a thoughtless fool when he
proposed to divide the night between her and Daphne.

There was something offensive in the proposal to so proud a creature. He
ought to have promised positively to come, and then left the banquet
somewhat earlier. It would have been easy to apologize for his late
arrival, and Ledscha would have had no cause to be angry with him.

Now she had, and her resentment awakened in him--though he certainly did
not lack manly courage--an uncomfortable feeling closely allied to
anxiety.

Angered by his own conduct, he asked himself whether he loved the
barbarian, and could find no satisfactory answer.

At their first meeting he had felt that she was far superior to the other
Biamite maidens, not only in beauty but in everything else. The very
acerbity of her nature had seemed charming. To win this wonderful, pliant
creature, slender as a cypress, whose independence merged into fierce
obstinacy, had appeared to him worth any sacrifice; and having perceived
in her an admirable model for his Arachne, he had also determined to
brave the dangers which might easily arise for the Greek from a love
affair with a Biamite girl, whose family was free and distinguished.

It had been easier for him to win her heart than he expected; yet at none
of the meetings which she granted him had he rejoiced in the secret bond
between them.

Hitherto her austere reserve had been invincible, and