endants were adding the finishing graces to
toilets disarranged in the litters. One of these latter was assigned
to Marcia's aid, but a few touches to her hair and a slight
readjustment of the cyclas were all that was needed.

Meanwhile, the Roman was watching, with deep interest, the group in the
court of the atrium. She had taken a position from which she could
have an unobstructed view through the doorway, and her attendant had
evidently informed herself as to the identity of the strangers, and was
anxious to win approval by communicating her knowledge.

"That is he, most beautiful lady; the one with the long, white tunic,
at the right of my masters. Is he not poorly dressed for so great a
man? Who would imagine him of any consequence at all?"

While the girl spoke, Marcia was regarding earnestly, and for the first
time, the chief of Carthage, the conqueror of Trebia and Trasimenus and
Cannae--of Sempronius and Flaminius and Varro. She saw a man slightly
above the middle height, well built, with strong, aquiline features and
thick, black, curling beard and hair, though the latter was worn away
at the temples by constant pressure of the helmet. It was a face that
combined deep thought, immeasurable pride, and absolute self-poise and
inscrutability--a face that would have been handsome but for the
disfiguring effect of the eye lost in the marshes of the Arnus.
Perhaps it was this that lent it something of its prevailing expression
of sadness; perhaps it was a realization of responsibilities met and to
be met and a premonition of the inevitable end. His dress was, as the
maid had so scornfully commented, plain in the extreme--a striking
contrast to the celebrated magnificence of his armour and military
equipment. Now, a simple, white, tunic-like garment, relieved by a
narrow border of gold, descended to his feet, while a slender gold
fillet was his sole ornament in addition to the seal finger-ring and
heavy earrings, which he wore in common with his companions.

The latter formed a group hardly less interesting than their leader,
and the girl pointed them out, one by one, and made her approving or
slurring comments. There was Hasdrubal, coarse-featured, middle-sized,
and corpulent, whose garments gleamed with purple and gold, and whose
ears, fingers, and neck glittered with a profusion of jewels. Him
Marcia's informant evidently regarded with admiration approaching to
awe, although his skill as manager of t