kin of
yours. Yes, and on you Gallus also, who have kept me safe through so
many dangers."

"And who hopes, dear one, to keep you safe through many more. Since
I may not swear by the gods before you, I swear it by the Eagles that
Domitian will do well to have a care how he deals by you. To him I owe
no fealty and, as has been proved before to-day, the sword of vengeance
can reach the heart of princes."

"Aye, Gallus," said Miriam gently, "but let it not be your sword, nor, I
trust, shall you need to think of vengeance."

Then the litter was brought into the courtyard, with the guards that
were sent to accompany it, and they started for the gathering-place
beyond the Triumphal Way. Dark though it still was, all Rome was astir.
On every side shone torches, from every house and street rose the murmur
of voices, for the mighty city made herself ready to celebrate the
greatest festival which her inhabitants had seen. Even now at times the
press was so dense that the soldiers were obliged to force a way through
the crowd, which poured outwards to find good places along the line of
the Triumph, or to take up their station on stands of timber, and in
houses they had hired, whose roofs, balconies and windows commanded the
path of the pageant.

They crossed the Tiber. This Miriam knew by the roar of the water
beneath, and because the crush upon the narrow bridge was so great.
Thence she was borne along through country comparatively open, to the
gateways of some large building, where she was ordered to dismount from
the litter. Here officers were waiting who took charge of her, giving to
Gallus a written receipt for her person. Then, either because he would
not trust himself to bid her farewell, or because he did not think it
wise to do so in the presence of the officers, Gallus turned and left
her without a word.

"Come on, girl," said a man, but a secretary, looking up from his
tablets, called to him:

"Gently there with that lot, or you will hear about it. She is
Pearl-Maiden, the captive who made the quarrel between the Caesars and
Domitian, of which all Rome is talking. Gently, I tell you, gently, for
many free princesses are worth less to-day."

Hearing this, the man bowed to Miriam, almost with reverence, and
begged her to follow him to a place that had been set apart for her. She
obeyed, passing through a great number of people, of whom all she could
see in the gloom of the breaking dawn was that, like herself, t