sisters."

"Arsinoe gave you most trouble."

"Oh! and what fun when we went fishing!"

"And when we brought home the fishes and mother gave us meal and raisins
to cook them."

"Do you remember the festival of Adonis, and how I stopped the runaway
horse of that Numidian officer?"

"The horse had knocked over Arsinoe, and when we got home mother gave
you an almond-cake."

"And your ungrateful sister bit a great piece out of it and left me only
a tiny morsel. Is Arsinoe as pretty as she promised to become? It is
two years since I last saw her; at our place we never have time to leave
work till it is dark. For eight months I had to work for the master at
Ptolemais, and often saw the old folks but once in the month."

"We go out very little, too, and we are not allowed to go into your
parents' house. My sister--"

"Is she pretty?"

"Yes, I think she is. Whenever she can get hold of a piece of ribbon she
plaits it in her hair, and the men in the street turn round to look at
her. She is sixteen now."

"Sixteen! What, little Arsinoe! Why, how long then is it since your
mother died?"

"Four years and eight months."

"You remember the date very exactly; such a mother is not easily
forgotten, indeed. She was a good woman and a kinder I never met. I
know, too, that she tried to mollify your father's feeling, but she
could not succeed, and then she need must die!"

"Yes," said Selene gloomily. "How could the gods decree it! They are
often more cruel than the hardest hearted man."

"Your poor little brothers and sisters!"

The girl bowed her head sadly and Pollux stood for some time with his
eyes fixed on the ground. Then he raised his head and exclaimed:

"I have something for you that will please you."

"Nothing ever pleases me now she is dead."

"Yes, yes indeed," replied the young sculptor eagerly. "I could not
forget the good soul, and once in my idle moments I modelled her bust
from memory. To-morrow I will bring it to you."

"Oh!" cried Selene, and her large heavy eyes brightened with a sunny
gleam.

"Now, is not it true, you are pleased?"

"Yes indeed, very much. But when my father learns that it is you who
have given me the portrait--"

"Is he capable of destroying it?"

"If he does not destroy it, he will not suffer it in the house as soon
as he knows that you made it." Pollux took the handkerchief from the
steward's head, moistened it afresh, and exclaimed as he rearranged it
on the forehea