ut it matters little what I think. There was that sly-eyed,
smooth-tongued Greek, like that Phaon who met his deserts, who was no
stranger to Domitius's blackmailings. I _feel_ that he did it. Never
mind his name. If ever I get the snake into my power--" and
Demetrius's fingers tightened around the thick, hard cable he was
clutching, and crushed the solid hemp into soft, loose strands; then
he broke out again, "Never mention this another time, Agias, or I
shall go mad, and plunge down, down into the waves, to go to sleep and
forget it all!"

Agias was faithful to the injunction; but he observed that Demetrius
showed Artemisia the same attention as Cornelia, albeit mingled with a
little gracious and unoffending familiarity.

II

After a voyage in which one pleasant day succeeded another, Cornelia
awoke one morning to hear the creak of blocks and tackle as the
sailors were lowering sail. The full banks of oars were plashing in
the waves, and on deck many feet were rushing to and fro, while
officers shouted their orders. Coming out of her cabin, the young lady
saw that the end of her seafaring was close at hand. Even to one fresh
from the azure atmosphere of the Campanian Bay, the sky was
marvellously clear. The water was of a soft green tint, that shaded
off here and there into dark cerulean. The wind was blowing in cool
puffs out of the north. A long, slow swell made the stately triremes
rock gracefully. Before them, in clear view, rose the tall tower of
the Pharos,--the lighthouse of Alexandria,--and beyond it, on the
low-lying mainland, rose in splendid relief against the cloudless sky
the glittering piles and fanes of the city of the Ptolemies. It was a
magnificent picture,--a "picture" because the colours everywhere were
as bright as though laid on freshly by a painter's brush. The
stonework of the buildings, painted to gaudy hues, brought out all the
details of column, cornice, and pediment. Here Demetrius pointed out
the Royal Palace, here the Theatre; here, farther inland, the Museum,
where was the great University; in the distance the whole looked like
a painting in miniature. Only there was more movement in this picture:
a splendid yacht, with the gold and ivory glittering on its prow and
poop, was shooting out from the royal dockyards in front of the
palace; a ponderous corn-ship was spreading her dirty sails to try to
beat out against the adverse breeze, and venture on a voyage to Rome,
at a season when