on the morrow the lions and leopards of the amphitheatre
will quarrel over your scattered limbs?'

'Is this a threat?' he cried. 'Is it to tell me that if I do not give my
love where my honor tells me it should not be given, I must surely die!
So, then, let it be. I accept the doom. One year ago, I would have
cheerfully fought in the arena for your faintest smile. Now I would
rather die there than have your sullied love forced upon me.'

Without another word he sat down again upon the stone bench. Even in
that darkness she could note how resolute was his expression, how firm
and unyielding his attitude. She had roused his nature, as she had never
seen it before. She had not believed that a spirit which she had been
accustomed to look upon as so much inferior in strength to her own,
could show such unflinching determination; and for the moment she stood
admiring him, and wondering whether, if he had always acted like that,
he might not have bound her soul to his own and kept her to himself
through all temptation and trial. Then, taking the other key, she
unlocked the door in the rear wall of the cell, and threw it open. The
narrow street behind the court was before him, and he was free to go.

'I meant it not for a threat,' she said. 'However low I may sink, I have
not yet reached the pass of wishing to purchase or beg for affection.
Why I spoke thus, I know not. It may be that I thought some gratitude
might be due me for rescuing you. But I cannot tell what I, thought. Or
it might have been that words were necessary for me, and that I used the
first that came. But let that pass. Know only that your safety lies
before you, and that it is in your power to grasp it. And now, farewell.
You leave me drifting upon a downward course, Cleotos. Sometimes,
perhaps, when another person is at your side, making your life far
happier than I could have made it, you will think kindly of me.'

'I think kindly of you now, Leta,' he said. 'Whatever love I can give,
apart from the love which I once asked you to accept, is yours. In
everything that brotherly affection can bestow, there will be no limit
to my care and interest for you. Nay, more, you shall now go away from
hence with me; and though I cannot promise more than a brother's love,
yet with that for your guide and protection, you can reach your native
home in peace and security, and there work out whatever repentance you
may have here begun.'

'And when we are there, and those