, and this
sweet child, at any rate, will find many protectors. He shall know that
the high-priest's wife, one of the best of women, keeps an anxious eye
on Melissa's fate; and I myself, his mother's friend, shall be at hand.
His passion for revenge, on the other hand, is boundless--no one living
can control it; and not even the noble Julia can shield those who
provoke it from a cruel end. If you do not know it, child, I can tell
you that he had his brother Geta killed, though he took refuge in the
arms of the mother who bore them both. You must understand the worst;
and again I ask you, are you ready to risk all for those you love? Have
you the courage to venture into the lion's den?"

Melissa clung more closely to the motherly woman, and her pale lips
answered faintly but firmly, "I am ready, and he will grant my prayer."

"Child, child," cried Berenike in horror, "you know not what lies before
you! You are dazzled by the happy confidence of inexperienced youth. I
know what life is. I can see you, in your heart's blood, as red and pure
as the blood of a lamb! I see--Ah, child! you do not know death and its
terrible reality."

"I know it!" Melissa broke in with feverish excitement. "My dearest--my
mother--I saw her die with these eyes. What did I not bury in her grave!
And yet hope still lived in my heart; and though Caracalla may be a
reckless murderer, he will do nothing to me, precisely because I am so
feeble. And, lady, what am I? Of what account is my life if I lose my
father, and my brothers, who are both on the high-road to greatness?"

"But you are betrothed," Berenike eagerly put in. "And your lover, you
told me, is dear to you. What of him? He no doubt loves you, and, if you
come to harm, sorrow will mar his young life."

At this Melissa clasped her hands over her face and sobbed aloud. "Show
me, then, any other way--any! I will face the worst. But there is
none; and if Diodoros were here he would not stop me; for what my heart
prompts me to do is right, is my duty. But he is lying sick and with a
clouded mind, and I can not ask him. O noble lady, kindness looks out of
your eyes; cease to rub salt into my wounds! The task before me is
hard enough already. But I would do it, and try to get speech with that
terrible man, even if I had no one to protect me."

The lady had listened with varying feelings to this outpouring of the
young girl's heart. Every instinct rebelled against the thought of
sacrificing