buying of the hanging, he had yielded to
his mother's request that he should escort the widow Susannah home. At
her house he had met her husband's brother, a jovial old fellow named
Chrysippus; and when the conversation turned on the tapestry, and the
Mukaukas' purpose of dedicating this work of art with all the gems
worked into it, to the Church, the old man had clasped his hands, fully
sharing Orion's disapproval, and had exclaimed laughing "What, you
the son, and is not even a part of the precious stones to fall to your
share? Why Katharina? Just a little diamond, a tiny opal might well
add to the earthly happiness of the young, though the old must lay up
treasure in heaven.--Do not be a fool! The Church's maw is full enough,
and really a mouthful is your due."

And then they drank a good deal of fine wine, till at last the older man
had accompanied Orion home, to stretch his limbs in the cool night air.
A litter was carried behind him for him to return in, and all the way
he had continued to persuade the youth to induce his father not to fling
the whole treasure into the jaws of the Church, but to spare him a few
stones at least for a more pleasing use. They had laughed over it a good
deal, and Orion in his heart had thought Chrysippus very right, and
had remembered Heliodora, and her love of large, handsome gems, and the
keepsake he owed her. But that neither his father nor his mother would
remove a single stone, and that the whole hanging would be dedicated,
was beyond a doubt; at the same time, some of this superfluous splendor
was in fact his due as their son, and a prettier gift to Heliodora than
the large emerald could not be imagined. Yes--and she should have it!
How delighted she would be! He even thought of the chief idea for the
verses to accompany the gift.

He had the key of the tablinum, in which the work was lying, about his
person; and when, on his return, he found the servants still sitting
round the fire, he shut the door of the out-buildings while a feeling
came over him which he remembered having experienced last on occasions
when he and his brothers had robbed a forbidden fruit-tree. He was
on the point of giving up his mad project; and when, in the tablinum
itself, a horrible inward tremor again came over him he had actually
turned to retreat--but he remembered old Chrysippus and his prompts.
To turn and fly now would be cowardice. Heliodora must have the large
emerald, and with his verses; hi