one of the Muses or the Graces--that was impossible! There
were thousands of pretty women in the world, but only one mother; and
how often had his heart beat high and won another heart, taken all it
had to give, and then easily and quickly recovered its balance.

This time however, it seemed more deeply hit than on former occasions;
even the lovely Persian slave for whose sake he had committed the
wildest follies while yet scarcely more than a school-boy--even the
bewitching Heliodora at Constantinople for whom he still had a tender
thought, had not agitated him so strongly. It was hard to give up this
Paula; but there was no help for it. To-morrow he must do his best to
establish their intercourse on a friendly and fraternal footing; for he
could have no hope that she would be content to accept his love only,
like the gentle Heliodora, who was quite her equal in birth. Life would
have been fair, unutterably fair, with this splendid creature by his
side! If only he could take her to the Capital he felt sure that all the
world would stand still to turn round and gaze at her. And if she loved
him--if she met him open-armed.... Oh, why had spiteful fate made her
a Melchite? But then, alas, alas! There must surely be something wrong
with her nature and temper; would she not otherwise have been able in
two years to gain the love, instead of the dislike, of his excellent and
fond mother?--Well, after all, it was best so; but Paula's image haunted
him nevertheless and spoilt his sleep, and his longing for her was not
to be stilled.

Neforis, meanwhile, did not return at once to her husband but went to
find Paula. This business must be settled on all sides and at once.
If she could have believed that her victory would give the invalid
unqualified pleasure she would have hastened to him with the good news,
for she knew no higher joy than to procure him a moment's happiness; but
the Mukaukas had agreed to her choice very reluctantly. Katharina
seemed to him too small and childish for his noble son, whose mental
superiority had been revealed to him unmistakably and undeniably, in
many long discussions since his return, to the delight of his father's
heart. "The water-wagtail," though he wished her every happiness, did
not satisfy him for Orion. To him, the father, Paula would have been
a well-beloved daughter-in-law, and he had often found pleasure in
picturing her by Orion's side. But she was a Melchite; he knew too how
ill-affe