ten on the
dining table, than one in the oak woods."

"Commend me to the boar upon the table likewise," said Catiline; "still,
with my friend Arvina at my side, and a good boarspear in my hand, I would
like well to bide the charge of a tusker! It is rare sport, by Hercules!"

"Wonderful beings you men are," said Fulvia, mincing her words affectedly,
"ever in search of danger; ever on the alert to kill; to shed blood, even
if it be your own! by Juno, I cannot comprehend it."

"I can, I can," cried Lucia, raising her voice for the first time, so that
it could be heard by any others than her nearest neighbor; "right well can
I comprehend it; were I a man myself, I feel that I should pant for the
battle. The triumph would be more than rapture; and strife, for its own
sake, maddening bliss! Heavens! to see the gladiators wheel and charge; to
see their swords flash in the sun; and the red blood gush out unheeded;
and the grim faces flushed and furious; and the eyes greedily devouring
the wounds of the foeman, but all unconscious of their own; and the play
of the muscular strong limbs; and the terrible death grapple! And then the
dull hissing sound of the death stroke; and the voiceless parting of the
bold spirit! Ye Gods! ye Gods! it is a joy, to live, and almost to die
for!"

Paullus Arvina looked at her in speechless wonder. The eyes so wavering
and downcast were now fixed, and steady, and burning with a passionate
clear light; there was a fiery flush on her cheek, not brief and
evanescent; her ripe red mouth was half open, shewing the snow white teeth
biting the lower lip in the excitement of her feelings. Her whole form
seemed to be dilated and more majestic than its wont.

"Bravo! my girl; well said, my quiet Lucia!" exclaimed Catiline. "I knew
not that she had so much of mettle in her."

"You must have thought, then, that I belied my race," replied the girl,
unblushingly; "for it is whispered that you are my father, and I think
_you_ have looked on blood, and shed it before now!"

"Boar's blood, ha! Lucia; but you are blunt and brave to-night. Is it that
Paullus has inspired you?"

"Nay! I know not," she replied, half apathetically; "but I do know, that
if I ever love, it shall be a hero; a man that would rather lie in wait
until dawn to receive the fierce boar rushing from the brake upon his
spear, than until midnight to enfold a silly girl in his embrace."

"Then will you never love me, Lucia," answered Curi