e no
longer fit mates for Roman women. Where but in the camp of Carthage
shall I find one worthy of my beauty? It is there I seek my lover."

Disappointment lowered on the face of Calavius. He had noted her
beauty, long before she had referred to it; but now he noted it with a
more distinct desire, and the words, "my father," which she had used,
though but a customary term of respect, grated the more harshly upon
his ears. Still, controlling himself, he asked:--

"And which man of our allies has the lady Marcia chosen to bless with
the love that is too high for an humble Italian?"

She looked the siren herself, as she answered:--

"Surely, my father would not learn the secret of his daughter!"
Calavius winced. "Believe, only, that he who has been loved at a
distance is noble and powerful. However, if so be that my lord would
learn the truth, let him take her to this banquet. I have heard often
that much liberty is allowed to the women of Capua; why not, then, to
the guest of the noblest of the Capuans?"

The mind of Calavius had been divided. With the first rebuff to his
rising passion had come the impulse to avail himself of his power and
of the helpless position of his guest to gratify his spite or his
pleasure as she might choose to make it. Then, at the suggestion that
she loved and had come to seek a Carthaginian of rank, he thought of
the disfavour--even peril he might incur by such a course should an
enemy or a slave learn the facts and expose him; and, finally, he fell
into a cunning casting up of the influence he might gain over the
lover, whoever he was, to whom he should be instrumental in
surrendering such perfect beauty. Again he winced at the thought, but
then, what more likely than that her silly, woman's vanity aspired to
the captain-general himself? and he, Pacuvius Calavius, might hope to
be the confidential go-between. What profit and influence might not be
found in such a relation!--so personal, so beneficent! After all,
there were many beautiful women--even among his slaves, and what was
the difference between woman and woman compared to the dream of Italian
sovereignty that hovered before his eyes! He knew well that no wife or
daughter of a Capuan would be present at that banquet--only the most
beautiful of the city's hetairai--but what of that? This girl was a
Roman--an enemy; the claims of hospitality between his people and hers
would be shivered in the coming crash of arms. W