, in which besides himself sat a lady."

"Was it Irene?" asked Asclepiodorus.

"I do not know," replied the tarter, "for I could not see who sat in the
chariot, but I heard the voice of Eulaeus, and then a woman's laugh. She
laughed so heartily that I had to screw my mouth up myself, it tickled
me so."

While Klea supposed this description to apply to Irene's merry
laugh-which she had never thought of with regret till this moment--the
high-priest exclaimed:

"You, keeper of the eastern gate, did the lady and Eulaeus enter and
leave this sanctuary together?"

"No," was the answer. "She came in half an hour later than he did, and
she quitted the temple quite alone and long after the eunuch."

"And Irene did not pass through your gate, and cannot have gone out by
it?--I ask you in the name of the god we serve!"

"She may have done so, holy father," answered the gate-keeper in much
alarm. "I have a sick child, and to look after him I went into my room
several times; but only for a few minutes at a time-still, the gate
stands open, all is quiet in Memphis now."

"You have done very wrong," said Asclepiodorus severely, "but since you
have told the truth you may go unpunished. We have learned enough. All
you gate-keepers now listen to me. Every gate of the temple must be
carefully shut, and no one--not even a pilgrim nor any dignitary from
Memphis, however high a personage he may be--is to enter or go out
without my express permission; be as alert as if you feared an attack,
and now go each of you to his duties."

The assembly dispersed; these to one side, those to another.

Klea did not perceive that many looked at her with suspicion as
though she were responsible for her sister's conduct, and others with
compassion; she did not even notice the twin-sisters, whose place she
and Irene were to have filled, and this hurt the feelings of the good
elderly maidens, who had to perform so much lamenting which they did not
feel at all, that they eagerly seized every opportunity of expressing
their feelings when, for once in a way, they were moved to sincere
sorrow. But neither these sympathizing persons nor any other of the
inhabitants of the temple, who approached Klea with the purpose of
questioning or of pitying her, dared to address her, so stern and
terrible was the solemn expression of her eyes which she kept fixed upon
the ground.

At last she remained alone in the great court; her heart beat faster
unusual, and s