and then for
a moment she stood and rested against the sculptured shaft of a mighty
pillar and thought of Chios. Suddenly she was confronted with the wise
woman who spoke with her not long ago.

'Whither goest thou, pretty slave? Art thou on a mission for thy
mistress? or does that star of thine so quickly lead thee to thy fate?
Tell me, girl, whither art thou steering?'

'I cannot tell thee; but I pray thee point the nearest way to the pine
and cypress grove nigh to the Temple of Diana.'

'Ah, now I know, and will not betray! Sanctuary! Thou seekest sanctuary,
and thou shalt have it if I can aid thee; but no time is to be lost.
Rush on as if thy life hung on a single thread. Turn to the right, pass
the Stadium, wind quickly around the hill Pion, and thou shalt see the
Temple bathed in glorious light, and close to it the sacred grove; but I
fear the hour has passed to gain access, and the planet Saturn rules.
Hide thee among the trees to-night, and when the sun's first rays appear
haste thee to thy refuge. That hour is the hour of Jupiter, the next is
that of the Sun; thou shalt prevail, and when thou flourisheth, remember
me.'

She moved away, and stealing around the hill with its great Acropolis
and fortress walls of iron brick, gained the sacred port, at the head of
which, standing broadly against the dying day, appeared the mighty
Temple--that Temple which she had so often gazed on from Venusta's
home.

It was not far away, but she could not reach it in time to claim
security that day. If she ran she would be suspected, and her feet
seemed weighted with sandals of lead.

She passed the smaller temples, saw the great ships with gorgeous sails
and swinging pendants pass up and down the sacred way, and heard the
chant of evening song float forth from many a shrine. Still, on she
went, footsore and weary, to find, alas! the door of her asylum closed;
then, gazing for a moment at the mighty structure within the parabolus
walls, she uttered a faint cry and burst into a flood of tears. Nothing
could she do but fly to the grove and pass the night there, and,
creeping stealthily away, she moved towards the pines and cypress-trees.

* * * * *

That night there raged a storm. The great clouds in wild masses sailed
across the sky like leviathans in the blue-tinted darkness of ocean
depths. No moon nor star. The mighty winds swayed the trees, and bent
the stoutest of them like reeds. Sar