be one of the servants of the high priest! He has travelled from a far
country to the sacred shrine; he is docile and obedient before the
altar of the gods; the lot is cast for his future life; his dwelling
shall be in the temple to the day of his death! He shall minister
before me in white robes, and swing the smoking censer, and slay the
sacrifice at my feet!'

He stopped. A dark and sinister expression appeared in his eyes as the
word 'sacrifice' passed his lips; he muttered doubtingly to
himself--'The sacrifice!--is it yet the hour of the sacrifice?'--and
looked round towards the doorway.

The sun still shone gaily on the outer pavement; the insects still
circled slowly in the mellow light; no shadow was now visible; no
distant footsteps were heard; there was nothing audible but the happy
music of the bubbling water, and the chiming, silvery bells.

For a few moments the madman looked out anxiously towards the street,
without uttering a word or moving a muscle. The raving fit was nearly
possessing him again, as the thought of the sacrifice flashed over his
darkened mind; but once more its approach was delayed.

He slowly turned his head in the direction of the interior of the
temple. 'The sun is still bright in the outer courts,' he murmured in
an undertone, 'the hour of the sacrifice is not yet! Come!' he
continued in a louder voice, shaking Numerian by the arm. 'It is time
that the servant of the temple should behold the place of the
sacrifice, and sharpen the knife for the victim before sunset! Arouse
thee, bondman, and follow me!'

As yet, Numerian had neither spoken, nor attempted to escape. The
preceding events, though some space has been occupied in describing
them, passed in so short a period of time, that he had not hitherto
recovered from the first overwhelming shock of the meeting with Ulpius.
But now, awed though he still was, he felt that the moment of the
struggle for freedom had arrived.

'Leave me, and let us depart!--there can be no fellowship between us
again!' he exclaimed with the reckless courage of despair, taking the
hand of Antonina, and striving to free himself from the madman's grasp.
But the effort was vain; Ulpius tightened his hold and laughed in
triumph. 'What! the servant of the temple is in terror of the high
priest, and shrinks from walking in the place of the sacrifice!' he
cried. 'Fear not, bondman! The mighty one, who rules over life and
death, and time and fu