sured him, however,
that she had already delayed too long, and referred him to Andreas and
the lady Euryale, who would relate to him what had befallen her and
spoiled every happy hour she had. Then, thinking herself unobserved by
those present, she breathed a kiss upon his lips. But he would not let
her go, urging with passionate tenderness his rights as her betrothed,
till she tore herself away from him and hurried from the room.

As she left, she heard a ringing laugh, followed by loud, sprightly
talking. It was not her lover's voice, and endeavoring, while she waited
for Andreas, to catch what was being said on the other side of the door,
she distinctly heard the body-physician (for no other pronounced the
Greek language in that curious, halting manner) exclaim, gayly: "By
Cerberus, young man, you are to be envied! The beauty my sovereign lord
is limping after flies unbidden into your arms!"

Then came loud laughter as before, but this time interrupted by
Diodoros's indignant question as to what this all meant. At last
Melissa heard Andreas's deep voice promising the young man to tell him
everything later on; and when the convalescent impatiently asked for
an immediate explanation, the Christian exhorted him to be calm,
and finally requested the physician to grant him a few moments'
conversation.

Then there was quiet for a time in the room, only broken by Diodoros's
angry questions and the pacifying exclamations of the freedman. She felt
as if she must return to her lover and tell him herself what she had
been forced to do in these last days, but maidenly shyness restrained
her, till at last Andreas came out. The freedman's honest face expressed
the deepest solicitude, and his voice sounded rough and hasty as he
exclaimed, "You must fly--fly this day!"

"And my father and brother, and Diodoros?" she asked, anxiously.

But he answered, urgently: "Let them get away as they may. There is
no hole or corner obscure enough to keep you hidden. Therefore take
advantage of the ship that waits for you. Follow Argutis at once to the
lady Berenike. I can not accompany you, for it lies with me to occupy
for the next few hours the attention of the body-physician, from whom
you have the most to fear. He has consented to go with me to my garden
across the water. There I promised him a delicious, real Alexandrian
feast, and you know how gladly Polybius will seize the opportunity to
share it with him. No doubt, too, some golden