-" and the speaker's voice came almost in
gasps--"Maharbal and the Numidians--"

"Not at the gates!" cried both young men, springing to their feet; but
the other shook his head and went on:--

"No, not that--not _yet_, but he has cut up four thousand cavalry in
Umbria with Caius Centenius. The consul had sent them from Gaul--"

"Be silent!" commanded the elder Torquatus. "Surely I hear the public
crier in the street. Is he not summoning the Senate? Velo," he said,
turning to the freedman; "you are pardoned for your intrusion. Go,
now, and bear orders from me to arm my household, and that my clients
and freedmen wait upon me in the morning. It is possible that the
Republic may call for every man; and though I fear Titus Manlius
Torquatus cannot strike the blows he struck in Sicily, yet even _his_
sword might avail to pierce light armour; and he is happy in that he
can give those to the State whose muscles shall suffice to drive the
point through heavy buckler and breastplate."

"Shall it be permitted that I attend you to the Senate House?" asked
Caius.

His father inclined his head, and, donning the togas which slaves had
brought, they hurried into the street, hardly noting that Sergius had
reseated himself and was gazing absently down into the water, counting
the ripples that spread from where each threadlike stream fell from its
dolphin-mouth source.

He did not know how long he had sat thus, nor was he, perhaps,
altogether conscious of his motive in failing to pay the aged senator
the honour of accompanying him, at least so far as the gates of the
Temple of Concord. Sounds came to his ears from the apartments above:
the trampling of feet and bustle of preparation that told of Velo's
delivery of his patron's commands. Then a woman's laugh rang through
the passage that led back to the garden of the peristyle.

Sergius rose and turned, just as a girl sprang out into the atrium,
looking back with a laughing challenge to some one who seemed to pursue
her, but who hesitated to issue from the protecting darkness.

"What do you fear, Minutia," she cried. "My father and Caius have
gone, and there is no one--oh!"

Suddenly she became conscious of Sergius' presence, and her olive
cheeks flushed to a rich crimson. Then she faced him with an air of
pretty defiance and went on:--

"No one here but Lucius Sergius Fidenas, who should have business
elsewhere."

Sergius said nothing, but continued to stand with