eginning to rise from the damp lawn, floated languidly
hither and thither on the soft night breeze, like ghosts veiled in
flowing crape. Moths flitted noiselessly round and over the clumps of
bushes, and the whole quiet and restful enclosure was full of sweetness
from the Lotos flowers in the marble basin, from the blossoms of the
luxuriant shrubs and the succulent tropical herbs at their feet. At any
other time it would have been a joy to pause and look round, only to
breathe and let the silent magic of the night exert its spell; but
Paula's soul was closed against these charms. The sequestered silence
lent a threatening accent to the furious wrangling in the court-yard,
which was audible even here in bursts of uproar; and it was with an
anxious heart that she observed that everything was not in its usual
order; for her sharp eyes could discern no one, nothing, at the entrance
to the tablinum, which was usually guarded by an armed sentinel or by
the watch-dog; and surely--yes, she was not mistaken--the bronze doors
were open, and the moon shone on the bright metal of one half which
stood ajar.

She stopped, and Hiram behind her did the same. They both listened with
such tension that the veins in their foreheads swelled; but from the
tablinum, which was hardly thirty paces from them, came only very faint
and intermittent sounds, indistinct in character and drowned by the
tumult without.

A few long and anxious minutes, and then the half-closed door was
suddenly opened and a man came forth. Paula's heart stood still, but
she did not for an instant lose her keenness of vision; she at once and
positively recognized the man who came out of the tablinum as Orion
and none other, and the big, long-haired dog too came out and past him,
sniffed the air and then, with a loud bark, rushed on the two watchers.
Trembling and with clenched teeth, but still mistress of herself, she
let him come close to her, and then, calling him by his name: "Beki" in
low, caressing tones, as soon as he recognized her, she laid her hand on
his shaggy head to scratch his ears, as he loved it done.

Paula and her companion were standing behind a column in the deepest
shadow. Thus Orion could not see her, and the dog's loud bark had
prevented his hearing her coaxing call; so when Beki was quiet and stood
still, Orion whistled to him. The obedient and watchful beast, ran
back, wagging his tail; and his master, greeting him as "a stupid old
cat-hunter,