ather here behind my screen. In the first
place, I am in a happy vein, and on the right track; I feel that
something good will come of this night's work."

"And tomorrow--"

"Hear me out."

"Well."

"You would be doing your other guest an ill-service by inviting me."

"Do you know the steward then?"

"From my earliest youth, I am the son of the gatekeeper of the palace."

"Oh, ho! then you came from that pretty little lodge with the ivy and
the birds, and the jolly old lady."

"She is my mother--and the first time the butcher kills she will concoct
for you and me a dish of sausages and cabbage without an equal."

"A very pleasing prospect."

"Here comes a hippopotamus--on closer inspection Keraunus, the steward."

"Are you his enemy?"

"I, no; but he is mine--yes," replied Pollux. "It is a foolish story.
When we sup together don't ask me about it if you care to have a jolly
companion And do not tell Keraunus that I am here, it will lead to no
good."

"As you wish, and here are our lamps too."

"Enough to light the nether world," exclaimed Pollux, and waving his
hand to the architect in farewell he vanished behind the screens to
devote himself entirely to his model.

It was long past midnight, and the slaves who had set to work with much
zeal had finished their labors in the hall of the Muses. They were now
allowed to rest for some hours on straw that had been spread for them
in another wing of the building. The architect himself wished to take
advantage of this time to refresh himself by a short sleep, for the
exertions of the morrow, but between this intention and its fulfilment
an obstacle was interposed, the preposterous dimensions namely of his
guest. He had invited the steward on purpose to give him his fill of
meat, and Keraunus had shown himself amenable to encouragement in this
respect. But after the last dish bad been removed the steward thought
that good manners demanded that he should honor his entertainer by
his illustrious presence, and at the same time the prefect's good wine
loosened the tongue of the man, who was not usually communicative.

First he spoke of the manifold infirmities which tormented him and
endangered his life, and when Pontius, to divert his talk into other
channels, was so imprudent as to allude to the Council of Citizens,
Keraunus gave full play to his eloquence, and, while he emptied cup
after cup of wine, tried to lay down the reasons which had made him and
his f