day and night ever since
he first had felt it. At this instant there was a sudden noise in the
house opposite; the slaves were coming out from supper. Sirona knew what
was happening; she started and cried out, pointing to the senator's door,
"For all the gods' sake! they are coming out, and if they see you here I
am lost!"

Hermas looked hastily round the court, and listened to the increasing
noise in the other house, then, perceiving that there was no possible
escape from the senator's people, who were close upon him, he cried out
to Sirona in a commanding tone, "Stand back," and flung himself up
through the window into the Gaul's apartment. At the same moment the door
opposite opened, and the slaves streamed out into the yard.

In front of them all was Miriam, who looked all round the wide
space-expectant; seeking something, and disappointed. He was not there,
and yet she had heard him come in; and the gate had not opened and closed
a second time, of that she was perfectly certain. Some of the slaves went
to the stables, others went outside the gate into the street to enjoy the
coolness of the evening; they sat in groups on the ground, looking up at
the stars, chattering or singing. Only the shepherdess remained in the
court-yard seeking him on all sides, as if she were hunting for some lost
trinket. She searched even behind the millstones, and in the dark sheds
in which the stone-workers' tools were kept.

Then she stood still a moment and clenched her hands; with a few light
bounds she sprang into the shadow of the Gaul's house. Just in front of
Sirona's window lay the steinbock; she hastily touched it with her
slender naked toes, but quickly withdrew her foot with a shudder, for it
had touched the beast's fresh wound, wet with its blood. She rapidly drew
the conclusion that: he had killed it, and had thrown it down here, and
that he could not be far off. Now she knew where he was in hiding-and she
tried to laugh, for the pain she felt seemed too acute and burning for
tears to allay or cool it. But she did not wholly lose her power of
reflection. "They are in the dark," thought she, "and they would see me,
if I crept under the window to listen; and yet I must know what they are
doing there together."

She hastily turned her back on Sirona's house, slipped into the clear
moonlight, and after standing there for a few minutes, went into the
slaves' quarters. An instant after, she slipped out behind the
millstones,