he displeasing effect of his
former words, was carried away, despite her sadness, by the magic of his
intellect. Her manner became unrestrained and her language fluent; and
Arbaces, who had waited his opportunity, now hastened to seize it.

'You have never seen,' said he, 'the interior of my home; it may amuse
you to do so: it contains some rooms that may explain to you what you
have often asked me to describe--the fashion of an Egyptian house; not
indeed, that you will perceive in the poor and minute proportions of
Roman architecture the massive strength, the vast space, the gigantic
magnificence, or even the domestic construction of the palaces of Thebes
and Memphis; but something there is, here and there, that may serve to
express to you some notion of that antique civilization which has
humanized the world. Devote, then, to the austere friend of your youth,
one of these bright summer evenings, and let me boast that my gloomy
mansion has been honored with the presence of the admired Ione.'

Unconscious of the pollutions of the mansion, of the danger that awaited
her, Ione readily assented to the proposal. The next evening was fixed
for the visit; and the Egyptian, with a serene countenance, and a heart
beating with fierce and unholy joy, departed. Scarce had he gone, when
another visitor claimed admission.... But now we return to Glaucus.

Chapter V

THE POOR TORTOISE. NEW CHANGES FOR NYDIA.

THE morning sun shone over the small and odorous garden enclosed within
the peristyle of the house of the Athenian. He lay reclined, sad and
listlessly, on the smooth grass which intersected the viridarium; and a
slight canopy stretched above, broke the fierce rays of the summer sun.

When that fairy mansion was first disinterred from the earth they found
in the garden the shell of a tortoise that had been its inmate. That
animal, so strange a link in the creation, to which Nature seems to have
denied all the pleasure of life, save life's passive and dream-like
perception, had been the guest of the place for years before Glaucus
purchased it; for years, indeed which went beyond the memory of man, and
to which tradition assigned an almost incredible date. The house
had been built and rebuilt--its possessors had changed and
fluctuated--generations had flourished and decayed--and still the
tortoise dragged on its slow and unsympathizing existence. In the
earthquake, which sixteen years before had overthrown many o