clear and
palpable before him and the mists were dispersed instantly, and the foes
of his better judgment scattered to the winds and routed.

Thus wavering, he sat, infirm of purpose, ungoverned--whence indeed all his
errors--by any principle or unity of action; when suddenly the sound of a
faint and hesitating knock of the bronze ring on the outer door reached
his ear. The chamber, which he occupied, was far removed from the
vestibule, divided from it by the whole length of the atrium, and fauces;
yet so still was the interior of the house, and so inordinately sharpened
was his sense of hearing by anxiety and apprehension, that he recognized
the sound instantly, and started to his feet, fearing he knew not what.

The footsteps of the slave, though he hurried to undo the door, seemed to
the eager listener as slow as the pace of the dull tortoise; and the short
pause, which followed after the door had been opened, he fancied to be an
hour in duration. Long as he thought it, however, it was too short to
enable him to conquer his agitation, or to control the tumultuous beating
of his heart, which increased to such a degree, as he heard the freedman
ushering the new comer toward the room in which he was sitting, that he
grew very faint, and turned as pale as ashes.

Had he been asked what it was that he apprehended, he could assuredly have
assigned no reasonable cause to his tremors. Yet this man was as brave, as
elastic in temperament, as tried steel. Oppose him to any definite and
real peril, not a nerve in his frame would quiver; yet here he was, by
imaginary terrors, and the disquietude of an uneasy conscience, reduced to
more than woman's weakness.

The door was opened, and Thrasea appeared alone upon the threshold, with a
mysterious expression on his blunt features.

"How now?" asked Paullus, "what is this?--Did I not tell you, that I would
not be disturbed this morning?"

"Yes! master," answered the sturdy freedman; "but she said that it was a
matter of great moment, and that she would--"

"_She!_--Who?" exclaimed Arvina, starting up from the chair, which he had
resumed as his servant entered. "Whom do you mean by _She_?"

"The girl who waits in the tablinum, to know if you will receive her."

"The girl!--what girl? do you know her?"

"No, master, she is very tall, and slender, yet round withal and
beautifully formed. Her steps are as light as the doe's upon the Haemus,
and as graceful. She has the finest f