and certainly, child, you do look extremely pale. I
would far rather find the means for the little one only."

Two sweet dimples again began to show in Arsinoe's cheeks, but Selene's
lips were as white as her bloodless cheeks as she exclaimed:

"But, father--father! neither the baker nor the butcher has had a coin
paid him for the last two months, and you will squander seven hundred
drachmae!"

"Squander!" cried Keraunus indignantly, but still in a tone of disgust
rather than anger. "I have already forbidden you to speak to me in that
way. The richest of our noble youths will take part in the games; Arsinoe
is handsome and perhaps one of them may choose her for his wife. And do
you call it squandering, when a father does his utmost to find a suitable
husband for his daughter. After all, what do you know of what I may
possess?"

"We have nothing, so I cannot know of it," cried the girl beside herself.

"Indeed!" drawled Keraunus with an embarrassed smile. "And is that
nothing which lies in the cup board there, and stands on the cornice
shelf? For your sakes I will part with these--the onyx fibula, the rings,
the golden chaplet, and the girdle of course."

"They are of mere silver-gilt!" Selene interrupted, ruthlessly. "All my
grandfather's real gold you parted with when my mother died."

"She had to be cremated and buried as was due to our rank," answered
Keraunus; "but I will not think now of those melancholy days."

"Nay, do think of them, father."

"Silence! All that belongs to my own adornment of course I cannot do
without, for I must be prepared to meet Caesar in a dress befitting my
rank; but the little bronze Eros there must be worth something,
Plutarch's ivory cup, which is beautifully carved, and above all, that
picture; its former possessor was convinced that it had been painted by
Apelles himself herein Alexandria. You shall know at once what these
little things are worth, for, as the gods vouchsafed, on my way home I
met, here in the palace, Gabinius of Nicaea, the dealer in such objects.
He promised me that when he had done his business with the architect he
would come to me to inspect my treasures, and to pay money down for
anything that might suit him. If my Apelles pleases him, he will give ten
talents for that alone, and if he buys it for only the half or even the
tenth of that sum, I will make you enjoy yourself for once, Selene."

"We will see," said the pale girl, shrugging her shoulders, a