anxiety:

"But, father, it was only to-day that you showed me the three gold pieces
which you said had been given you as a present out of the money
distributed on the arrival of the Empress."

The steward absently rolled a piece of bread-crumb between his fingers
and said:

"I spent that on this fibula with an incised onyx--and as cheap as dirt,
I can tell you. If Caesar comes he must see who and what I am; and if I
die any one will give you twice as much for it as I paid. I tell you the
Empress's money was well laid out on the thing." Selene made no answer,
but she sighed deeply, and her eye glanced at a quantity of useless
things which her father had acquired and brought home because they were
cheap, while she and her seven sisters wanted the most necessary things.

"Father," the girl began again after a short silence, "I ought not to go
on about it, but even if it vexes you, I must--the architect, who is
settling all the work out there, has sent for you twice already."

"Be silent!" shouted the fat man, striking his hand on the table. "Who is
this Pontius, and who am I!"

"You are of a noble Macedonian family, related perhaps even to the
Ptolemies; you have your seat in the Council of the Citizens--but do,
this time, be condescending and kind. The man has his hands full, he is
tired out."

"Nor have I been able to sit still the whole day, and what is fitting, is
fitting. I am Keraunus the son of Ptolemy, whose father came into Egypt
with Alexander the Great, and helped to found this city, and every one
knows it. Our possessions were diminished; but it is for that very reason
that I insist on our illustrious blood being recognized. Pontius sends to
command the presence of Keraunus! If it were not infuriating it would be
laughable--for who is this man, who? I have told you his father was a
freedman of the former prefect Claudius Balbillus, and by the favor of
the Roman his father rose and grew rich. He is the descendant of slaves,
and you expect that I shall be his obedient humble servant, whenever he
chooses to call me?"

But father, my dear father, it is not the son of Ptolemy, but the
palace-steward that he desires shall go to hire."

"Mere chop-logic!--you have nothing to say, not a step do I take to go to
him."

The girl clasped her hands over her face, and sobbed loudly and
pitifully. Keraunus started up and cried out, beside himself.

"By great Serapis. I can bear this no longer. What are you whimp