rd of.'

'But the law gives a master no power over the life of a slave.'

'The law is very obliging, but more polite than efficient. I know that
Arbaces always gets the law on his side. Besides, if I am once dead,
what law can bring me to life again!'

Nydia wrung her hands. 'Is there no hope, then?' said she,
convulsively.

'None of escape till Arbaces gives the word.'

'Well, then, said Nydia, quickly, 'thou wilt not, at least, refuse to
take a letter for me: thy master cannot kill thee for that.'

'To whom?'

'The praetor.'

'To a magistrate? No--not I. I should be made a witness in court, for
what I know; and the way they cross-examine the slaves is by the
torture.'

'Pardon: I meant not the praetor--it was a word that escaped me
unawares: I meant quite another person--the gay Sallust.'

'Oh! and what want you with him?'

'Glaucus was my master; he purchased me from a cruel lord. He alone has
been kind to me. He is to die. I shall never live happily if I cannot,
in his hour of trial and doom, let him know that one heart is grateful
to him. Sallust is his friend; he will convey my message.'

'I am sure he will do no such thing. Glaucus will have enough to think
of between this and to-morrow without troubling his head about a blind
girl.'

'Man,' said Nydia, rising, 'wilt thou become free? Thou hast the offer
in thy power; to-morrow it will be too late. Never was freedom more
cheaply purchased. Thou canst easily and unmissed leave home: less than
half an hour will suffice for thine absence. And for such a trifle wilt
thou refuse liberty?'

Sosia was greatly moved. It was true that the request was remarkably
silly; but what was that to him? So much the better. He could lock the
door on Nydia, and, if Arbaces should learn his absence, the offence was
venial, and would merit but a reprimand. Yet, should Nydia's letter
contain something more than what she had said--should it speak of her
imprisonment, as he shrewdly conjectured it would do--what then! It
need never be known to Arbaces that he had carried the letter. At the
worst the bribe was enormous--the risk light--the temptation
irresistible. He hesitated no longer--he assented to the proposal.

'Give me the trinkets, and I will take the letter. Yet stay--thou art a
slave--thou hast no right to these ornaments--they are thy master's.'

'They were the gifts of Glaucus; he is my master. What chance hath he
to claim them? Who e