eyes fixed
thoughtfully upon her face.

Her figure was tall, slender, and very graceful, her hair and eyes were
dark, and her features delicate and perfectly moulded. Over all was
now an expression of hoydenish mirth that bespoke the complete
forgetfulness of serious things that only comes to young girls. His
attentive silence seemed at last to disturb her. An annoyed look drove
the smile from her lips, and, with an almost imperceptible side motion
of her small head, she went on:--

"Surely Lucius Sergius Fidenas has not allowed my father to go to the
Senate House with only Caius to attend him! Lucius respects my father
too much for that--and too disinterestedly. It is an even more serious
omission than his failure to attend the consul at Trasimenus--"

Sergius' eyes blazed at the taunt, and, struggling with the answer that
rose to his lips, he said nothing for fear he might say too much.

The girl watched him closely. Her mirth returned a little at the sight
of his confusion, and, with her mirth, came something of mercy.

"Oh, to be sure, his wound. I almost forgot that. Tell me, my brave
Lucius, did the Gauls bite hard when they caught you in the woods and
drove you and my brave uncle to Tanes? How funny for naked Gauls to
ambush Roman legionaries and chase them home! Father has not spoken to
Uncle Cneus since. He says it was his duty to have remained on the
field, and I suppose he thinks it was yours, too, instead of running
away like a fox to be shut up in his hole."

Sergius had recovered his composure now, but his brow was clouded.

"You are as cruel as ever, Marcia," he said. "And yet I know you have
heard that it was the men of my maniple who carried me away, senseless
from the blow of a dead man."

"Oh, you _did_ kill him. I remember now," she resumed, with some
display of interest. "You had run him through, had you not? and he
just let his big sword drop on your head. I got Caius to show me about
it, and I was the Gaul. Caius did not stab me, but I let the stick
fall pretty hard, and Caius had a sore head for two days. I meant it
for you, because you are trying to make an old woman of me when I am
hardly a girl."

"Marcia--" began Lucius; but she raised her hand warningly and went
on:--

"Do you want me to tell you why my father will not let you marry me
now? There are two reasons. One because I don't want him to, and
another because he thinks you must do something great to wipe