on her
trembling knees; only the support of the wall saved her from sinking
down.

After a moment's silence he began again:--

"What is an old man, and weak--a sport of foreigners--to me who am
young and strong, and by whose word even the schalischim of Carthage
must march or halt? I, the favoured one of Melkarth, beseech you, a
Roman, for favour, because Adonis wills it. See how I come to you,
unpermitted, from those who cajole each other, and I show you my heart.
Love me! love me! leave this keeper, who is but an old woman, and you
shall be a priestess in Carthage, and the people shall swarm around and
cast their jewels and wealth before you, for the deity--that shall be
you alone; and we shall feast and love and love and feast again in such
splendour as not even Carthage has ever known--"

She could restrain her feelings no longer; all her resolves seemed to
slip from her in the presence of this man; she thrust out her hands and
turned her head away with a shiver of utter disgust. Her movement was
vague in the dim light, but he saw it, and his face darkened.

"What is this house?" he exclaimed harshly. "How long will it stand
against me? Shall I not crush its root, even as its branch was torn
off to-day? Filth! vermin! dust! Shall not its flower lie in my bosom
to bloom forever, if she wills--or to bloom for a moment and wither and
be cast away, if she wills not?"

He strode forward and caught her wrist; his hot breath steamed in her
face.

"No! no! I _hate_ you! Go!" The words sprang from her lips, without
power to hold them back, and she struggled frantically in his grasp;
she heard his teeth grinding, as, mad with passion, he strove to bind
her arms to her sides. At that moment a rattling of weapons from the
peristyle seemed to bring him to a consciousness of his surroundings.
Releasing her, he half turned, and she sank down in the corner of the
cell. The visit was evidently over, and Hannibal, about to take his
leave, was glancing around, evidently in search of the missing priest.

Iddilcar spoke low and rapidly:--

"I will return at once. Wait me till I come, or I will have you given
to a syntagma of Africans."

He was out in the peristyle now, bowing low before the captain-general.
Then he whispered in his ear--probably some explanation of his absence,
of how he had been keeping watch against treachery; for Hannibal nodded
several times, and, again embracing Calavius, accepted his escort