a shout of joy
like one who, seeking retribution for blood, places his foot at last on
the breast of his fallen foe. She clenched her teeth tightly and grasped
her girdle, in which she had stuck the knife given her by the smith.

If the charioteer by her side had been Publius, she would have stabbed
him to the heart with the weapon with delight, and then have thrown
herself under the horses' hoofs and the brazen wheels of the chariot.

But no! Still more gladly would she have found him dying in the desert,
and before his heart had ceased to beat have shouted in his ear how much
she hated him; and then, when his breast no longer heaved a breath--then
she would have flung herself upon him, and have kissed his dimmed eyes.

Her wildest thoughts of vengeance were as inseparable from tender pity
and the warmest longings of a heart overflowing with love, as the dark
waters of a river are from the brighter flood of a stream with which
it has recently mingled. All the passionate impulses which had hitherto
been slumbering in her soul were set free, and now raised their
clamorous voices as she was whirled across the desert through the gloom
of night. The wishes roused in her breast by her hatred appealing to her
on one side and her love singing in her ear, in tempting flute-tones, on
the other, jostled and hustled one another, each displacing the other as
they crowded her mind in wild confusion. As she proceeded on her journey
she felt that she could have thrown herself like a tigress on her
victim, and yet--like an outcast woman--have flung herself at Publius'
knees in supplication for the love that was denied her. She had lost all
idea of time and distance, and started as from a wild and bewildering
dream when the chariot suddenly halted, and the driver said in his rough
tones:

"Here we are, I must turn back again."

She shuddered, drew the cloak more closely round her, sprang out on to
the road, and stood there motionless till the charioteer said:

"I have not spared my horses, my noble gentleman. Won't you give me
something to get a drop of wine?" Klea's whole possessions were two
silver drachma, of which she herself owned one and the other belonged to
Irene. On the last anniversary but one of his mother's death, the king
had given at the temple a sum to be divided among all the attendants,
male and female, who served Serapis, and a piece of silver had fallen to
the share of herself and her sister. Klea had them both a