"wanted
to be let in; when the gatekeeper refused, he forced his way in. He asked
for you."

"For me," said Selene, blushing.

"Yes, my child, he brought a large and beautiful nosegay of flowers, and
said 'your friend at Lochias sends you his greeting.'"

"My friend at Lochias?" murmured thoughtfully Selene to herself. Then her
eyes sparkled with gladness, and she asked quickly:

You said the man who brought the flowers was very tall."

"He was."

"Oh please, dame Hannah, let me see the flowers?" cried Selene, trying to
raise herself.

"Have you a lover, child?" asked the widow.

"A lover?--no, but there is a young man with whom we always used to play
when we were quite little--an artist, a kind, good man--and the nosegay
must be from him."

Hannah looked with sympathy at the girl, and signing to Mary she said:

"The nosegay is a very large one. You may see it, but it must not remain
in the room; the smell of so many flowers might do you harm."

Mary rose from her seat at the head of the bed, and whispered to the sick
girl:

"Is that the tall gate-keeper's son?" Selene nodded, smiling, and as the
women went away she changed her position from lying on one side,
stretched herself out on her back, pressed her hand to her heart, and
looked upwards with a deep sigh. There was a singing in her ears, and
flashes of colored light seemed to dance before her closed eyes. She drew
her breath with difficulty, but still it seemed as though the air she
drew in was full of the perfume of flowers.

Hannah and Mary carried in the enormous bunch of flowers. Selene's eyes
shone more brightly, and she clasped her hands in admiration. Then she
made them show her the lovely, richly-tinted and fragrant gift, first on
one side and then on the other, buried her face in the flowers, and
secretly kissed the delicate petals of a lovely, half-opened rose-bud.
She felt as if intoxicated, and the bright tears flowed in slow
succession down her cheeks. Mary was the first to detect the brooch stuck
into the ribbons that tied the stems of the flowers. She unfastened it
and showed it to Selene, who hastily took it out of her hand. Blushing
deeper and deeper, she fixed her eyes on the intaglio carved on the stone
of the love god sharpening his arrows. She felt her pain no more pain,
she felt quite well, and at the same time glad, proud, too happy. Dame
Hannah noted her excitement with much anxiety; she nodded to Mary and
said:

"Now my