shall not leave this place for a week; during that time my wife
shall do without you; she shall wait upon herself, this shall be her
punishment.'

And Gremion, retiring with the two men, left Genevieve alone. It was now
no longer the tender and merciful words of Jesus that came to the mind
of the slave, as they had come to her before her punishment. It was the
words of vengeance and of curses which he had also pronounced the same
morning against the wicked and the oppressors.

During the long hours she passed alone, with the remembrance of her
shame, she made to herself an oath, that if ever the gods willed that
she should be a mother, and that she could keep her child with her, she
would strive to inspire in him a horror of slavery, and a hatred to the
Romans, instead of allowing to degenerate in his young mind these proud
resentments, as they had degenerated in her husband, Fergan, whom she
loved so, despite the weakness of his character, he who had descended,
nevertheless, from the powerful and untameable race of Joel, the brenn
of the haughty tribe of Karnak.

Genevieve had been for three days confined in the underground room of
the house, where Gremion, her master, had brought her every morning a
little food, when one night very late, the door of the slave's prison
opened; she saw her mistress, Aurelia, enter, holding a lamp in one
hand, and with the other a packet, which she deposited on the steps of
the staircase.

'Poor woman! you have greatly suffered on my account,' said Aurelia,
whose eyes were moistened with tears, on approaching Genevieve. The
latter, despite the kindness of her mistress, could not help saying to
her with bitterness:

'If you had a daughter, and men had stripped her of her clothes to beat
her with a whip, by order of a master, what would you then say of
slavery?'

'Genevieve, you accuse me, and I am not the cause of these cruelties!'

'It is not you I accuse; it is slavery; you are kind to me. But still,
look how I have been treated.'

'In vain, for the last three days, have I sought your pardon from my
husband,' said Aurelia, her voice full of compassion.

'He has refused me: I have entreated him to allow me to see you; he was
deaf to my prayers; besides, he always carries the keys of the prison
about him.'

'And how have you obtained possession of it to-night?'

'He had placed it under his pillow; I profited by his sleep, and I am
come.'

'I have suffered much more of sham