s should tear her fair body limb from limb, as she had
torn his soul in this hour.

One wish alone filled his heart--to see her whom he had loved above all
others, to whom he had revealed his inmost soul, for whose sake he had
amended his actions as he had never done for his own mother--to see her
lying in the dust before him, and to inflict upon her such tortures as
no mortal had ever endured before. And not only she, but all whom she
loved and who were her accomplices, should atone for the torment of this
hour. The time of reckoning had come, and every evil instinct of his
nature mingled its exulting voice with the anguished cries of his
bleeding heart.

The prefect knew his master well, and watched his every expression while
apparently listening to the voluble physician, but in reality absorbed
in a train of thought. By the twitching of his eyelids, the sharply
outlined red patches on his cheeks, the quivering nostrils, and the deep
furrows between his eyes, he must be revolving some frightful plan in
his mind.

Yesterday, had he found him in this condition, Macrinus would have
endeavored by every means in his power to calm his wrath; but to-day, if
Caesar had set the world in flames, he would only have added fuel to the
fire, for who could more surely upset the firmly established power of
this emperor and son of emperors as Caracalla himself? The people of
Rome had endured unimaginable sufferings at his hands; but the cup was
full, and, judging from Caesar's looks, he would cause it to overflow
this day. Then the rising flood which tore the son of an idolized father
from the throne, might possibly bear him, the child of lowliness and
poverty, into the palace.

But Macrinus remained silent. No word from him should change the tenor
of the emperor's thoughts. The plan he was thinking out must be allowed
to ripen to its full horror. The lowering, uncertain glance that
Caracalla cast round the tablinum at the close of the physician's
narrative showed that the prefect's reticence was an unnecessary
precaution.

Caesar's mind and tongue still seemed paralyzed; but at that moment
something occurred which recalled him to himself and brought firmness to
his wandering gaze.

There was a sudden disturbance in the antechamber, with a confused sound
of cries and shouting. Those friends of Caesar who wore swords drew
them, and Caracalla, who was unarmed, called to Antigonus to give him
his.

"A revolt?" he asked Macrinus