ough her nurse Perpetua; but it would have seemed fairer and
more friendly in his eyes--and here he raised his voice--if she had
chosen to confide to him, Orion, her plan for helping the freedman. Then
he might have been able to warn her. He could only regard this mode of
action, independently of him, as a fresh proof of her dislike, and she
must hold herself responsible for the consequences. Justice must now
take its course with inexorable rigor.

The wrathful light in his eyes showed her what she had to expect from
him, and that he was prepared to fight her to the end. She saw that he
thought that she had broken the promise she had but just now given him;
but she had not commissioned Perpetua to interfere in the matter; on the
contrary, she had desired the woman to leave it to her to produce her
evidence only in the last extremity. Orion must believe that she had
done him a wrong; still, could that make him so far forget himself as
to carry out his threats, and sacrifice an innocent man--to divert
suspicion from himself, while he branded her as a false witness? Aye,
even from that he would not shrink! His flaming glance, his abrupt
demeanor, his laboring breath, proclaimed it plainly enough.--Then let
the struggle begin! At this moment she would have died rather than have
tried to mollify him by a word of excuse. The turmoil in his whole being
vibrated through hers. She was ready to throw herself at his feet
and implore him to control himself, to guard himself against further
wrong-doing--but she maintained her proud dignity, and the eyes that met
his were not less indignant and defiant than his own.

They stood face to face like two young eagles preparing to fight, with
feathers on end, arching their pinions and stretching their necks. She,
confident of victory in the righteousness of her cause, and far more
anxious for him than for herself; he, almost blind to his own danger,
but, like a gladiator confronting his antagonist in the arena, far more
eager to conquer than to protect his own life and limb.

While Nilus explained to her what, in part, she already knew, and
repeated their suspicion that she had been tempted to make a false
declaration to save the life of her servant, whose devotion, no doubt,
to his missing master had led him to commit the robbery; she kept her
eye on Orion rather than on the speaker. At last Nilus referred to the
trunk, which had been brought from Paula's room under her own eyes,
inform