ked into the court of the extensive edifice,
was thickly hung with heavy curtains of gold-brocade. Equally costly
stuffs covered the mosaic floor, so that no noise accompanied the
footsteps of the solitary inmate.

A softened light filled the room. Relieved against the golden
background of the walls, stood a row of small white busts of the
Christian Emperors since Constantine. Exactly over a writing divan,
hung a large cross of massive gold. Whenever the little man passed
this, he bent before it; for in the middle of the gold, and covered
with glass, a splinter of wood was enclosed, said to be a piece of the
true Cross. At last he stopped before a map, which, representing the
_orbis Romanus_, and traced upon a parchment with a purple border,
covered one of the walls.

After a long and searching look, he sighed and covered his eyes with
his hands. They were not beautiful, nor was his face noble; but his
features were exceedingly suggestive both of good and evil. Mistrust,
cunning and vigilance lay in the restless glance of his deep-set eyes;
deep wrinkles, more the result of care than of age, furrowed his
projecting forehead and hollow cheeks.

"Who can foresee the result?" he exclaimed, sighing again, and rubbing
his long and bony hands. "I am unceasingly impelled to do it. A spirit
has entered my bosom, and it warns me repeatedly. But is it an angel of
the Lord or a demon? Who can interpret my dream? Forgive, Thou Triune
God, forgive Thy most zealous servant! Thou hast cursed him who
interprets dreams. And yet Joseph interpreted the dreams of King
Pharaoh, and Jacob saw the heavens open; and their dreams were from
Thee. Shall I, dare I venture?"

Again he walked to and fro; and who knows how long he would have
continued to do so, had not the purple curtains of the doorway been
gently drawn aside. A slave, glittering with gold, threw himself on the
ground before the little man, with his arms crossed on his breast.

"Emperor, the patricians whom you summoned have arrived.

"Patience!" said the Emperor to himself, and seated himself upon a
couch, of which the supports were made of gold and ivory. "Quick with
the shoes and the chlamys!"

The slave drew a pair of sandals with thick soles and high heels upon
the Emperor's feet, which added some inches to his height, and threw
over his shoulders a rich mantle worked all over with stars of gold,
kissing each article as he touched it. After a repetition of the humble
p