She trembled for little Mary, who had disappeared
from the neighboring garden, till she heard that the child had fled to
escape the cloister; each day she learnt that Heliodora, who had
moved to the gardener's house with her invalid, had as yet escaped the
pestilence; while in the prayers, which even now she never failed to
offer up morning and evening, she implored the Almighty and her patron
saints to rescue the young widow, to save her from causing the death of
her own mother, and to forgive her for having indirectly caused that of
worthy old Rufinus, who had always been so good to her, and of so many
innocent creatures by her treachery.

Thus the terrible days and nights of anguish passed by; and the captives
whom the girl's sins had brought to prison were happier than she, in
spite of the doom that threatened them.

The fate of his betrothed tortured Orion more than a hundred aching
wounds. Paula's terrible end was fast approaching, and his brain burned
at the mere thought. Now, as he was told by the warder, by the bishop,
and by Justinus, the day after to-morrow was fixed for the bridal of his
betrothed. In two days the bride, decked by base and mocking hands for
an atrocious and accursed farce, would be wreathed and wedded, not to
him, the bridegroom whom she loved, but to the Nile--the insensible,
death-dealing element. He rushed up and down his cell like a madman, and
tore his lute-strings when he tried to soothe his soul with music; but
then a calm, well-intentioned voice would come from the adjoining room,
exhorting him not to lose hope, to trust in God, not to forget his duty
and the task before him. And Orion would control himself resolutely,
pull himself together, and throw himself into his work again.

Day and night were alike to him. The senator had provided him with a
lamp and oil. When he was wearied out, he allowed himself no longer
sleep on his hard couch than human nature imperatively demanded; and as
soon as he had shaken it off he again became absorbed in maps and lists,
plied his pen, thought, sketched, calculated, and reflected. Then, if
a doubt arose in his mind or he could not trust his own memory and
judgment, he knocked at the wall, and his shrewd and experienced friend
was at all times ready to help him to the best of his knowledge and
opinion. The senator went to Arsinoe for him, to gain information as
to the seaboard from the archives preserved there; and so the work went
forward, appro