ine fellows--would be
wise to keep aloof from this house to-day."

"Yes indeed!" the architect chimed in. "It will be prudent for their
father, too, to seek some hiding-place. He is too closely connected with
Octavianus. It may indeed happen that the Queen will desire to make use
of him. In that case he may be able to aid Barine, who is his sister's
child. Timagenes, too, who comes from Rome as a mediator, may have some
influence."

"The same thoughts entered my poor brain also," said Anukis. "I am now
going to show the gentlemen the danger which threatens her, and if I
succeed--Yet what could a serving-woman of my appearance accomplish?
Still--my house is nearer to the brink of the stream than the dwelling of
most others, and if I fling in a loaf, perhaps the current will bear it
to the majestic sea."

"Wise Aisopion!" cried Dion; but the worthy maid-servant shrugged her
crooked shoulders, saying: "We needn't be free-born to find pleasure in
what is right; and if being wise means using one's brains to think, with
the intention of promoting right and justice, you can always call me so.
Then you will start after sundown?"

With these words she was about to leave the room, but the architect, who
had watched her every movement, had formed a plan and begged her to
follow him.

When they reached the next room he asked for a faithful account of Barine
and the dangers threatening her. After consulting her as if she were an
equal, he held out his hand in farewell, saying: "If it is possible to
bring her to the Temple of Isis unseen, these clouds may scatter. I shall
be in the sanctuary of the goddess from the first hour after sunset. I
have some measurements to take there. When you say you know that the
immortals will have pity on the innocent woman whom they have led to the
verge of the abyss, perhaps you may be right. It seems as if matters here
were combining in a way which would be apt to rob the story-teller of his
listener's faith."

After Aisopion had gone, Gorgias returned to Dion's room and asked the
freedman to be ready with his boat at a place on the shore which he
carefully described.

The friends were again alone. Gorgias had his hands full of work, but he
could not help expressing his surprise at the calm bearing which Dion
maintained. "You behave as if you were going to an oyster supper at
Kanopus," he said, shaking his head as though perplexed by some
incomprehensible problem.

"What else would you ha