ar, outside, the clatter of harness
and words of command. She rose from her seat and saw that about twenty
horsemen, whose golden helmets and armor reflected the light of the
lanterns, cleared the wide court by driving the men before them, as the
flames drive the game from a fired hedge, and by forcing them into a
second court from which again they proceeded to expel them. At least
Klea could hear them shouting 'In the king's name' there as they had
before done close to her. Presently the horsemen returned and placed
themselves, ten and ten, as guards at each of the passages leading into
the court. It was not without interest that Klea looked on at this scene
which was perfectly new to her; and when one of the fine horses, dazzled
by the light of the lanterns, turned restive and shied, leaping and
rearing and threatening his rider with a fall--when the horseman checked
and soothed it, and brought it to a stand-still--the Macedonian warrior
was transfigured in her eyes to Publius, who no doubt could manage a
horse no less well than this man.

No sooner was the court completely cleared of men by the mounted guard
than a new incident claimed Klea's attention. First she heard footsteps
in the room adjoining her prison, then bright streaks of light fell
through the cracks of the slight partition which divided her place of
retreat from the other room, then the two window-openings close to hers
were closed with heavy shutters, then seats or benches were dragged
about and various objects were laid upon a table, and finally the door
of the adjoining room was thrown open and slammed to again so violently,
that the door which closed hers and the bench near which she was
standing trembled and jarred.

At the same moment a deep sonorous voice called out with a loud and
hearty shout of laughter:

"A mirror--give me a mirror, Eulaeus. By heaven! I do not look much like
prison fare--more like a man in whose strong brain there is no lack of
deep schemes, who can throttle his antagonist with a grip of his fist,
and who is prompt to avail himself of all the spoil that comes in his
way, so that he may compress the pleasures of a whole day into every
hour, and enjoy them to the utmost! As surely as my name is Euergetes
my uncle Antiochus was right in liking to mix among the populace. The
splendid puppets who surround us kings, and cover every portion of their
own bodies in wrappings and swaddling bands, also stifle the expression
of ever