been made by a chance look
or gesture! At the very first she had almost stumbled upon the truth
merely through the magic of one upward glance of the eye of the wearied
slave; why, then, might she not have unconsciously revealed herself to
him by even a wave of the hand or a turn of the instep, or by some other
apparently trivial and unimportant motion? And if so, at what instant
might he not forget his fallen condition, and disregard not only his
safety but her reputation, by pressing into the palace and claiming the
right of speech with her? Rasher deeds were not seldom done under the
promptings of desperation. Trembling beneath the sway of such
imaginings, each footfall that resounded in the hall seemed like the
light and buoyant step of him who had trodden with her the sands of
Ostia--each figure that passed by bore, for the instant, the outline of
his form--even at the open window the well-known face seemed to peer in
at every corner and watch her.

This paroxysm of terror gradually passed away, but was succeeded by
other fancies equally productive of inquietude. What if the captive,
having recognized her, had whispered his story to the companions with
whom he had walked! He would surely not do so if he still loved her; but
what if his love had ceased, and he should be meanly desirous of
increasing his own importance by telling how he, a slave, had been the
chosen lover of the proudly allied lady before him? Nay, he would never
act thus, for it would be a baseness foreign to his nature; and yet have
not men of the most lofty sense of honor often fallen from their
original nobility, and revelled in self-degradation? And it somehow
seemed as though, at the last, the dwarf had looked up at her with a
strangely knowing leer. And was it merely her imagination that made her
think there was a certain sly approach to undue familiarity in the
usually deferential deportment of the armor bearer?

With the next morning, however, came more composed reflections. Though
the forebodings of the evening had naturally tinged her dreams with
similar vague imaginings of coming trouble, yet, upon the whole, her
sleep had brought rest, and the bright sunlight streaming in at the
window drove away the phantoms which, during the previous gloom, had so
confusedly disported themselves in her bewildered brain. She could now
indulge in a more cheering view of her situation; and she felt that
there was nothing in what had transpired of suffici