sh and terrible peril had startled and shaken her; but
she did her utmost to cling to the hope held out by the bishop so as
to appear calm, and as far as possible cheerful, in her sick father's
presence. And in this she succeeded so long as it was day; but at night
she was a prey to agonizing terrors. Then, in fancy she saw herself
surrounded by a raging mob, dragged to the river and cast into a watery
grave before a thousand eyes. Then, prayer was of no avail, nor any
resolve or effort; not the tender messages that constantly reached her
from Orion, nor the songs he would sing for her in the brief moments of
leisure he allowed himself; not the bishop's words of comfort, nor the
visits of those she loved. The warder would admit her friends as often
as he was able; and among those who found their way to her cell were the
Senator Justinus and his wife.

By great good fortune Martina had quitted Susannah's house as soon
as the two slaves had fallen ill and she had heard that the physician
pronounced them to be sickening of the plague. She had returned to her
rooms in the inn kept by Sostratus, but her nephew Narses had remained
with Katharina and her mother. He was indeed intending to follow her
with Heliodora; but, by the time they were ready to set out, Susannah,
too, had fallen a victim to the pestilence and the authorities had
forbidden all egress from her house.

Heliodora might have succeeded in leaving in time, alone; but she would
not abandon her unfortunate brother-in-law; for he never felt easy but
in her presence, would allow no one else to wait on him, and would take
neither food nor drink unless they were offered him by her. Besides
this, the cavalry officer, once so stalwart, had in his weakness become
pathetically like her lost husband, and she knew that Narses had been
the first to love her, and that it was only for his brother's sake that
he had concealed his passion. Her motherly instincts found an outlet
in the care of the half-crushed, but not hopelessly lost man; and the
desire to drag him back to life kept her busy day and night, and made
her regard everything else as trivial and of secondary importance. Her
life had once more found a purpose; her efforts were for an attainable
end, and she devoted herself to him body and soul.

Her uncle had told her that Orion was bound to Paula by a supreme
passion.--This had been a painful blow, but the Syrian girl had
impressed her; she looked up to her, and it