my house, and all whom I love
or cherish, wretchedly perish if I fail you."

"Then I am yours," she sighed; "all, and for ever!" and sank into his
arms, half fainting with the violence of that prolonged excitement.

CHAPTER VII.

THE OATH.

Into what dangers
Would you lead me, Cassius?
JULIUS CAESAR.

The evening had worn on to a late hour, and darkness had already fallen
over the earth, when Paullus issued stealthily, like a guilty thing, from
Lucia's chamber. No step or sound had come near the door, no voice had
called on either, though they had lingered there for hours in endearments,
which, as he judged the spirit of his host, would have cost him his life,
if suspected; and though he never dreamed of connivance, he did think it
strange that a man so wary and suspicious as Catiline was held to be,
should have so fallen from his wonted prudence, as to betray his adopted
daughter's honor by granting this most fatal opportunity.

He met no member of the family in the dim-lighted peristyle; the passages
were silent and deserted; no gay domestic circle was collected in the
tablinum, no slaves were waiting in the atrium; and, as he stole forth
cautiously with guarded footsteps, Arvina almost fancied that he had been
forgotten; and that the master of the house believed him to have retired
when he left the dining hall.

It was not long, however, before he was undeceived; for as he entered the
vestibule, and was about to lay his hand on the lock of the outer door, a
tall dark figure, which he recognized instantly to be that of his host,
stepped forward from a side-passage, and stretched out his arm in silence,
forbidding him, by that imperious gesture, to proceed.

"Ha! you have tarried long," he said in a deep guarded whisper, "our Lucia
truly is a most soft and fascinating creature; you found her so, is it not
true, my Paullus?"

There was something singular in the manner in which these words were
uttered, half mocking, and half serious; something between a taunting and
triumphant assertion of a fact, and a bitter question; but nothing that
betokened anger or hostility, or offended pride in the speaker.

Still Paullus was so much taken by surprise, and so doubtful of his
entertainer's meaning, and the extent of his knowledge, that he remained
speechless in agitated and embarrassed silence.

"What, have the girl's kisses clogged your lips, so that they can gi