nd
went up to the chest. What was this? She knew, quite positively, that
she had locked it before going out and yet it was now standing wide
open; the lid, thrown back, hung askew by one hinge; the other was
broken. A dread, a hideous suspicion, froze her blood; the lamp trembled
in her hand as she leaned over the chest which ought to have contained
every thing she possessed. There lay the old documents, carefully rolled
together, side by side, but the two bags with Plutarch's money and the
Emperor's, had vanished. She took out one roll after another; then she
tossed them all out on to the floor till the bottom of the chest was
bare--but the gold was really gone, nowhere to be found.

The new slave had forced open the lid of the chest and stolen the whole
possessions of the orphans of the man who, to gratify his own vanity,
had brought him into the house.

Arsinoe screamed aloud, called in her creditors, explained to them all
that had occurred and implored them to pursue the thief; and when they
only listened to her with an incredulous shrug, she swore that she was
speaking the truth, and promised that whether the slave were caught
or not she would pay them with the price of her own and her father's
personal ornaments. She knew the name of the dealer of whom her father
had bought the slave and told it to the unsatisfied dealers, who at last
left her to follow up the thief as promptly as possible.

Once more Arsinoe was alone. Tearless, but shivering and scarcely
mistress of herself from misery and agitation, she took out her veil,
flung it over her head, and hurried through the court and along the
streets to her sister.

Verily, since Sabina's visit to the palace all good spirits had deserted
it.

CHAPTER XI.

In a perfectly dark spot by the wall of the widow's garden, stood
the cynic philosopher who had met Antinous with so little courtesy,
defending himself eagerly, but in low tones against the rebukes of
another man, who, dressed, like himself in a ragged cloak and bearing a
beggar's wallet, appeared to be one of the same kidney.

"Do not deny," said the latter, "that you cling much to the Christians."

"But hear me out," urged the other.

"I need hear nothing, for I have seen you for the tenth time sneaking in
to one of their meetings."

"And do I deny it? Do I not honestly confess that I seek truth wherever
I may, where I see even a gleam of hope of finding it?"

"Like the Egyptian who wanted to