r does his utmost to find a
suitable husband for his daughter. After all, what do you know of what I
may possess?"

"We have nothing, so I cannot know of it," cried the girl beside
herself.

"Indeed!" drawled Keraunus with an embarrassed smile. "And is that
nothing which lies in the cup board there, and stands on the cornice
shelf? For your sakes I will part with these--the onyx fibula, the
rings, the golden chaplet, and the girdle of course."

"They are of mere silver-gilt!" Selene interrupted, ruthlessly. "All my
grandfather's real gold you parted with when my mother died."

"She had to be cremated and buried as was due to our rank," answered
Keraunus; "but I will not think now of those melancholy days."

"Nay, do think of them, father."

"Silence! All that belongs to my own adornment of course I cannot do
without, for I must be prepared to meet Caesar in a dress befitting
my rank; but the little bronze Eros there must be worth something,
Plutarch's ivory cup, which is beautifully carved, and above all, that
picture; its former possessor was convinced that it had been painted
by Apelles himself herein Alexandria. You shall know at once what these
little things are worth, for, as the gods vouchsafed, on my way home I
met, here in the palace, Gabinius of Nicaea, the dealer in such objects.
He promised me that when he had done his business with the architect
he would come to me to inspect my treasures, and to pay money down for
anything that might suit him. If my Apelles pleases him, he will give
ten talents for that alone, and if he buys it for only the half or even
the tenth of that sum, I will make you enjoy yourself for once, Selene."

"We will see," said the pale girl, shrugging her shoulders, and her
sister exclaimed:

"Show him the sword too, that you always declared belonged to Caesar,
and if he gives you a good sum for it you will buy me a gold bracelet."

"And Selene shall have one, too. But I have the very slenderest hopes
of the sword, for a connoisseur would hardly pronounce it genuine. But I
have other things, many others. Hark! that is Gabinius, no doubt.
Quick, Selene, throw the chiton round me again. My chaplet, Arsinoe.
A well-to-do man always gets a higher price than a poor one. I have
ordered the slave to await him in the ante-room; it is always done in
the best houses."

The curiosity dealer was a small, lean man, who, by prudence and good
luck, had raised himself to be one of the most es