ame, Nydia felt suddenly, and as by revelation, that those
feelings she had long and innocently cherished were of love. Doomed to
be rescued from tyranny by Glaucus--doomed to take shelter under his
roof--doomed to breathe, but for so brief a time, the same air--and
doomed, in the first rush of a thousand happy, grateful, delicious
sentiments of an overflowing heart, to hear that he loved another; to be
commissioned to that other, the messenger, the minister; to feel all at
once that utter nothingness which she was--which she ever must be, but
which, till then, her young mind had not taught her--that utter
nothingness to him who was all to her; what wonder that, in her wild and
passionate soul, all the elements jarred discordant; that if love
reigned over the whole, it was not the love which is born of the more
sacred and soft emotions? Sometimes she dreaded only lest Glaucus
should discover her secret; sometimes she felt indignant that it was not
suspected: it was a sign of contempt--could he imagine that she presumed
so far? Her feelings to Ione ebbed and flowed with every hour; now she
loved her because he did; now she hated him for the same cause. There
were moments when she could have murdered her unconscious mistress;
moments when she could have laid down life for her. These fierce and
tremulous alternations of passion were too severe to be borne long. Her
health gave way, though she felt it not--her cheek paled--her step grew
feebler--tears came to her eyes more often, and relieved her less.

One morning, when she repaired to her usual task in the garden of the
Athenian, she found Glaucus under the columns of the peristyle, with a
merchant of the town; he was selecting jewels for his destined bride.
He had already fitted up her apartment; the jewels he bought that day
were placed also within it--they were never fated to grace the fair form
of Ione; they may be seen at this day among the disinterred treasures of
Pompeii, in the chambers of the studio at Naples.

'Come hither, Nydia; put down thy vase, and come hither. Thou must take
this chain from me--stay--there, I have put it on. There, Servilius,
does it not become her?'

'Wonderfully!' answered the jeweller; for jewellers were well-bred and
flattering men, even at that day. 'But when these ear-rings glitter in
the ears of the noble Ione, then, by Bacchus! you will see whether my
art adds anything to beauty.'

'Ione?' repeated Nydia, who had hither