on now as they may, but a few hours before the
performance begins, I will send them word that you are ill."

The selection of Arsinoe had however, on the other hand, given pleasure
as well as pain. Up in the middle places in the amphitheatre sat
Keraunus, his legs far apart, his face glowing, panting and choking with
sheer delight, and too haughty to draw in his feet even when the brother
of the archidikastes tried to squeeze by his bulky person which filled
two seats at once. Arsinoe, whose sharp ears had not failed to catch the
dealer's remonstrances, and the words in which brave Pollux had taken
her part, had, at first, felt dying of shame and terror, but now she
felt as though she could fly on the wings of her delight. She had never
been so happy in her life, and when she got out with her father, in the
first dark street she threw her arms round his neck, kissed both his
cheeks, and then told him how kind the lady Julia, the prefect's
wife had been to her, and that she had undertaken, with the warmest
friendliness, to have her costly dress made for her.

Keraunus had no objection to offer, and, strange to say, he did not
consider it beneath his dignity to allow Arsinoe to be supplied with
jewels by the wealthy manufacturer.

"People have seen," he said, pathetically, "that we need not shrink from
doing as much as other citizens do, but to dress a Roxana as befits
a bride would cost millions, and I am very willing to confess to my
friends that I have not millions. Where the costume comes from is all
the same, be that as it may you will still stand the first of all the
maidens in the city, and I am pleased with you for that, my child.
To-morrow will be the last meeting, and then perhaps Selene too, may
have a prominent part given to her. Happily we are able to dress her as
befits. When will the prefect's wife fetch you?"

"To-morrow about noon."

"Then early to-morrow buy a nice new dress."

"Will there not be enough for a new bracelet too?" asked Arsinoe,
coaxingly. "This one of mine is too narrow and trumpery."

"You shall have one, for you have deserved it," replied Keraunus, with
dignity. "But you must have patience till the day after to-morrow;
to-morrow the goldsmiths will be closed on account of the festival."

Arsinoe had never seen her father so cheerful and talkative as he was
to-day, and yet the walk from the theatre to Lochias was not a
very short one, and it was long past the early hour at which