years, becomes their property."
"This mosaic belongs to the palace."
"I assert the contrary. It is an integral portion of your family
dwelling, and you may freely dispose of it."
"It belongs to the palace."
"No, and again no; you are the owner. Tomorrow morning early you shall
receive twelve Attic talents in gold, and, with the help of my son, later
in the day I will take up the picture, pack it, and when it grows dark,
carry it away. Procure a carpet to cover the empty place for the present.
As to the secrecy of the transaction--I must of course insist on it as
strongly--and more so--than yourself."
"The mosaic belongs to the palace," cried the steward, this time in a
louder voice, "Do you hear? it belongs to the palace, and whoever dares
touch it, I will break his bones."
As he spoke Keraunus stood up, his huge chest panting, his cheeks and
forehead dyed purple, and his fist, which he held in the dealer's face,
was trembling. Gabinius drew back startled, and said:
"Then you will not have the twelve talents!"
"I will--I will!" gasped Keraunus, "I will show you how I beat those who
take me for a rogue. Out of my sight, villain, and let me hear not
another word about the picture, and the robbery in the dark, or I will
send the prefect's lictors after you and have you thrown into irons, you
rascally thief!"
Gabinius hurried to the door, but he there turned round once more to the
groaning and gasping colossus, and cried out, as he stood on the
threshold:
"Keep your rubbish! we shall have more to say to each other yet."
When Selene and Arsinoe returned to the sitting-room they found their
father breathing hard and sitting on the couch, with his head drooping
forward. Much alarmed, they went close up to him, but he exclaimed quite
coherently:
"Water--a drink of water!--the thief!--the scoundrel!"
Though hardly pressed, it had not cost him a struggle or a pang to refuse
what would have placed him and his children in a position of ease; and
yet he would not have hesitated to borrow it, aye, or twice the sum, from
rich or poor, though he knew full certainly that he would never be in a
position to restore it. Nor was he even proud of what he had done; it
seemed to him quite natural in a Macedonian noble. It was to him
altogether out of the pale of possibility that he should entertain the
dealer's proposition for an instant.
But where was he to get the money for Arsinoe's outfit? how could he keep
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