a leathern receptacle, which he then deposited in his girdle,
drawing the buckle round his capacious waist more closely than he was
wont to do in the lax hours of his domestic avocations. 'And by Isis,
Pisis, and Nisis, or whatever other gods there may be in Egypt, my
little Nydia is a very Hesperides--a garden of gold to me.'

'She sings well, and plays like a muse,' returned Calenus; 'those are
virtues that he who employs me always pays liberally.'

'He is a god,' cried Burbo, enthusiastically; 'every rich man who is
generous deserves to be worshipped. But come, a cup of wine, old
friend: tell me more about it. What does she do? she is frightened,
talks of her oath, and reveals nothing.'

'Nor will I, by my right hand! I, too, have taken that terrible oath of
secrecy.'

'Oath! what are oaths to men like us?'

'True oaths of a common fashion; but this!'--and the stalwart priest
shuddered as he spoke. 'Yet,' he continued, in emptying a huge cup of
unmixed wine, 'I own to thee, that it is not so much the oath that I
dread as the vengeance of him who proposed it. By the gods! he is a
mighty sorcerer, and could draw my confession from the moon, did I dare
to make it to her. Talk no more of this. By Pollux! wild as those
banquets are which I enjoy with him, I am never quite at my ease there.
I love, my boy, one jolly hour with thee, and one of the plain,
unsophisticated, laughing girls that I meet in this chamber, all
smoke-dried though it be, better than whole nights of those magnificent
debauches.'

'Ho! sayest thou so! To-morrow night, please the gods, we will have
then a snug carousal.'

'With all my heart,' said the priest, rubbing his hands, and drawing
himself nearer to the table.

At this moment they heard a slight noise at the door, as of one feeling
the handle. The priest lowered the hood over his head.

'Tush!' whispered the host, 'it is but the blind girl,' as Nydia opened
the door, and entered the apartment.

'Ho! girl, and how durst thou? thou lookest pale--thou hast kept late
revels? No matter, the young must be always the young,' said Burbo,
encouragingly.

The girl made no answer, but she dropped on one of the seats with an air
of lassitude. Her color went and came rapidly: she beat the floor
impatiently with her small feet, then she suddenly raised her face, and
said with a determined voice:

'Master, you may starve me if you will--you may beat me--you may
threaten me with deat