le closely around her.

A few more strokes of the oar, and they landed.

Dolios lifted the trembling Queen on to the land; but the old man
silently turned his boat, and rowed as quickly and unerringly back as
he had come. With a sort of dismay Amalaswintha watched him disappear
into the thick mist.

Suddenly it seemed to her as if she heard the sound of oar-strokes from
a second boat, which approached nearer and nearer. She asked Dolios
what was the cause of this noise.

"I hear nothing," he answered; "you are over-excited. Come into the
house."

Supported by his arm she climbed the steps, hewn in the rock, which led
to the tower-like, loftily-situated villa. Of the gardens, which, as
she distinctly remembered, extended on both sides of the narrow path,
scarcely the outlines of the rows of trees could be distinguished in
the mist.

At last they reached the lofty entrance, a bronze door with posts of
black marble.

Dolios knocked upon it with the hilt of his sword; the stroke
reverberated dully through the vaulted halls--the door sprang open.

Amalaswintha remembered how she had once entered this door, then almost
choked with wreaths of flowers, at the side of her young husband; she
remembered with what friendly warmth they had been welcomed by the
door-keeper and his wife, at that time also a newly-married couple.

The dark-looking slave with tangled grey hair, who now stood before her
with a lantern and a bunch of keys, was a stranger to her.

"Where is Fuscina, the wife of the late ostiarius? Is she no more in
the house?" she asked.

"She was long since drowned in the lake," answered the door-keeper
indifferently; and went forward with the light.

The Princess followed shuddering; she could not help thinking of the
cold black waves which had so dismally licked the planks of the little
boat.

They went on through arched courts and pillared halls; all were empty,
as if the inhabitants were dead. Their footsteps echoed loudly in the
deserted rooms--the whole villa seemed one vast catacomb.

"The house is uninhabited? I need a female slave."

"My wife will attend you."

"Is no one else in the villa?"

"One other slave--a Greek physician."

"A physician? I will see him----"

But at this moment a violent knocking was heard at the outer door.

Amalaswintha started in terror.

"What was that?" she asked, catching Dolios by the sleeve.

She heard the banging of the heavy door as it was closed again