s her ear guided her to the very
door that had closed upon Calenus. Here she more distinctly caught his
accents of terror and despair. Thrice she attempted to speak, and
thrice her voice failed to penetrate the folds of the heavy door. At
length finding the lock, she applied her lips to its small aperture, and
the prisoner distinctly heard a soft tone breathe his name.

His blood curdled--his hair stood on end. That awful solitude, what
mysterious and preternatural being could penetrate! 'Who's there?' he
cried, in new alarm; 'what spectre--what dread larva, calls upon the
lost Calenus?'

'Priest,' replied the Thessalian, 'unknown to Arbaces, I have been, by
the permission of the gods, a witness to his perfidy. If I myself can
escape from these walls, I may save thee. But let thy voice reach my
ear through this narrow passage, and answer what I ask.'

'Ah, blessed spirit,' said the priest, exultingly, and obeying the
suggestion of Nydia, 'save me, and I will sell the very cups on the
altar to pay thy kindness.'

'I want not thy gold--I want thy secret. Did I hear aright? Canst thou
save the Athenian Glaucus from the charge against his life?'

'I can--I can!--therefore (may the Furies blast the foul Egyptian!) hath
Arbaces snared me thus, and left me to starve and rot!'

'They accuse the Athenian of murder: canst thou disprove the
accusation?'

'Only free me, and the proudest head of Pompeii is not more safe than
his. I saw the deed done--I saw Arbaces strike the blow; I can convict
the true murderer and acquit the innocent man. But if I perish, he dies
also. Dost thou interest thyself for him? Oh, blessed stranger, in my
heart is the urn which condemns or frees him!'

'And thou wilt give full evidence of what thou knowest?'

'Will!--Oh! were hell at my feet--yes! Revenge on the false
Egyptian!--revenge!--revenge! revenge!'

As through his ground teeth Calenus shrieked forth those last words,
Nydia felt that in his worst passions was her certainty of his justice
to the Athenian. Her heart beat: was it to be her proud destiny to
preserve her idolized--her adored? Enough,' said she, 'the powers that
conducted me hither will carry me through all. Yes, I feel that I shall
deliver thee. Wait in patience and hope.'

'But be cautious, be prudent, sweet stranger. Attempt not to appeal to
Arbaces--he is marble. Seek the praetor--say what thou knowest--obtain
his writ of search; bring soldiers, and sm