l you that I have already taken advantage of a letter brought
by the messengers of the empress-mother to take my leave of the emperor.
For, I reasoned, if Melissa listens to the emperor, she will need no
other confederate than the boy Eros; if, however, she takes flight--then
woe betide those who are within range of the tyrant's arm, and ten times
woe to me who brought the fugitive before his notice! Early to-morrow,
before Caracalla leaves his couch, I shall return with the messengers to
Julia; my place in the ship--"

"O my lord," interrupted Melissa, in consternation, "if you, my kind
protector, forsake me, to whom shall I look for help?"

"You will not require it if you carry out your intentions," said the
philosopher. "Throughout this day you will doubtless need me; and let me
impress upon you once more to behave before Caracalla in such a manner
that even his suspicious mind may not guess what you intend to do. To-day
you will still find me ready to help you. But, hark! That is Caesar
raging again. It is thus he loves to dismiss ambassadors, when he wishes
they should clearly understand that their conditions are not agreeable to
him. And one word more: When a man has grown gray, it is doubly soothing
to his heart that a lovely maiden should so frankly regret the parting. I
was ever a friend of your amiable sex, and even to this day Eros is
sometimes not unfavorably inclined to me. But you, the more charming you
are, the more deeply do I regret that I may not be more to you than an
old and friendly mentor. But pity at first kept love from speaking, and
then the old truth that every woman's heart may be won save that which
already belongs to another."

The elderly admirer of the fair sex spoke these words in such a pleasant,
regretful tone that Melissa gave him an affectionate glance from her
large, bright eyes, and answered, archly: "Had Eros shown Philostratus
the way to Melissa instead of Diodoros, Philostratus might now be
occupying the place in this heart which belongs to the son of Polybius,
and which must always be his in spite of Caesar!"

CHAPTER XXIV.

The door of the tablinum flew open, and through it streamed the Parthian
ambassadors, seven stately personages, wearing the gorgeous costume of
their country, and followed by an interpreter and several scribes.
Melissa noticed how one of them, a young warrior with a fair beard
framing his finely molded, heroic face, and thick, curling locks escapin