say 'please to come in, or have the goodness
to come in?'" asked the steward.

"He may come in--was what he said," replied the slave.

Keraunus grunted out, "Well!" set his gold circlet straight on his head
which he held very upright, crossed his arms over his broad chest with a
sigh, and ordered the black man:

"Open the door."

The steward crossed the threshold with much dignity: then, not to commit
any breach of courtesy, he bowed low, and was about to begin to utter
his reprimand in cutting terms, when a glance at the Emperor and at the
splendid decoration which the room had undergone since the day previous,
not to mention the very unpleasant growling of the big dog, prompted him
to strike a milder string. His slave had followed him and had sought a
safe corner near the door, between the wall of the room and a couch, but
he himself, conquering his alarm at the dog, went forward some distance
into the room. The Emperor had seated himself on the window-sill; he
pressed his foot lightly on the head of the dog, and gazed at Keraunus
as at some remarkable curiosity. His eye thus met that of the steward
and made him clearly understand that he had to do with a greater
personage than he had expected. There was something imposing in the
person of the man who sat before him; for this very reason, however,
his pride stood on tiptoe, and he asked in a tone of swaggering dignity,
though not so sharply and abruptly as he had intended.

"Am I standing before the new visitor to Lochias, the architect Claudius
Venator of Rome?"

"You are--standing--" replied the Emperor, with a roguish side glance at
Antinous.

"You have met with a friendly reception to this palace. Like my fathers,
who have enjoyed the stewardship of it for centuries, I know how to
exercise the sacred duties of hospitality."

"I am surprised to hear of the high antiquity of your family and bow
to your pious sentiments," answered Hadrian, in the same tone as the
steward. "What farther may I learn from you?"

"I did not come here to relate history," said Keraunus, whose gall rose
as he thought he detected a mocking smile on the stranger's lips. "I
did not come here to tell stories, but to complain that you, as a
warmly-welcomed guest, show so little anxiety to protect your host from
injury."

"How is that?" asked Hadrian, rising from his seat and signing to
Antinous to hold back the hound, which manifested a peculiar aversion
to the steward. It no doubt