are the woman, and I will teach you who
is to give orders here and who is to obey."

Anger and rage prompted these quite unpremeditated words, and as
Klea--while he spoke them with quivering lips--had attempted with the
exertion of all her strength, which was by no means contemptible, to
wrench her hands from his grasp, he forced her--angry as he still was,
but nevertheless with due regard for her womanliness--forced her by a
gentle and yet irresistible pressure on her arms to bend before him, and
compelled her slowly to sink down on both knees.

As soon as she was in this position, Publius let her free; she covered
her eyes with her aching hands and sobbed aloud, partly from anger, and
because she felt herself bitterly humiliated.

"Now, stand up," said Publius in an altered tone as he heard her
weeping. "Is it then such a hard matter to submit to the will of a man
who will not and cannot let you go, and whom you love, besides?" How
gentle and kind the words sounded! Klea, when she heard them, raised her
eyes to Publius, and as she saw him looking down on her as a supplicant
her anger melted and turned to grateful emotion--she went closer to him
on her knees, laid her head against him and said:

"I have always been obliged to rely upon myself, and to guide another
person with loving counsel, but it must be sweeter far to be led by
affection and I will always, always obey you."

"I will thank you with heart and soul henceforth from this hour!" cried
Publius, lifting her up. "You were ready to sacrifice your life for
me, and now mine belongs to you. I am yours and you are mine--I your
husband, you my wife till our life's end!"

He laid his hands on her shoulders, and turned her face round to his;
she resisted no longer, for it was sweet to her to yield her will to
that of this strong man. And how happy was she, who from her childhood
had taken it upon herself to be always strong, and self-reliant, to feel
herself the weaker, and to be permitted to trust in a stronger arm than
her own. Somewhat thus a young rose-tree might feel, which for the first
time receives the support of the prop to which it is tied by the careful
gardener.

Her eyes rested blissfully and yet anxiously on his, and his lips had
just touched hers in a first kiss when they started apart in terror, for
Klea's name was clearly shouted through the still night-air, and in the
next instant a loud scream rang out close to them followed by dull cries