Then the merchant from Alexandria stepped forward and held up his finger.

“A thousand, by the Gods!”

Saturius looked at the man indignantly.  Who was this that dared to bid against Domitian, the third dignitary in all the Roman empire, Caesar’s son, Caesar’s brother, who might himself be Caesar?  Still he answered with another bid of eleven hundred.

Once more the finger of Domitian went up.

“Twelve.  Twelve hundred!” said the auctioneer, in a voice of suppressed excitement, while the audience gasped, for such prices had not been heard of.

“Thirteen,” said the Chamberlain.

Again the finger went up.

“Fourteen hundred.  I have fourteen hundred.  Against you, worthy Saturius.  Come, come, I must knock the lot down, which perhaps would not please some whom I could mention.  Don’t be stingy, friend, you have a large purse to draw on, and it is called the Roman Empire.  Now.  Thank you, I have fifteen hundred.  Well, my friend yonder.  What!  Have you had enough?” and he pointed to the Alexandrian merchant, who, with a groan, had turned aside and hidden his face in his hands.

“Knocked out, knocked out, it seems,” said the auctioneer, “and though it is little enough under all the circumstances for this lot, who is as lovely as she is historical, I suppose that I can scarcely expect——­” and he looked around despondently.

Suddenly the old woman with the basket glanced up and, speaking in a quiet matter-of-fact voice but with a foreign accent, said: 

“Two thousand.”

A titter of laughter went around the room.

“My dear madam?” queried the auctioneer, looking at her dubiously, “might I ask if you mean sester_tii_ or sester_tia_?[*] Your pardon, but it has occurred to me that you might be confounding the two sums.”

     [*] A sestertius was worth less than 2d., a sestertium
     was a sum of money of the value of about L8.

“Two thousand sester_tia_,” repeated the matter-of-fact voice with the foreign accent.

“Well, well,” said the auctioneer, “I suppose that I must accept the bid.  Friend Saturius, I have two thousand sestertia, and it is against you.”

“Against me it must remain, then,” replied the little man in a fury.  “Do all the kings in the world want this girl?  Already I have exceeded my limit by five hundred sestertia.  I dare do no more.  Let her go.”

“Don’t vex yourself, Saturius,” said the auctioneer, “bidding is one thing, paying another.  At present I have a bona-fide bid of fifteen hundred from you.  Unless this liberal but unknown lady is prepared with the cash I shall close on that.  Do you understand, madam?”

“Perfectly,” answered the veiled old woman.  “Being a stranger to Rome I thought it well to bring the gold with me, since strangers cannot expect credit.”

“To bring the gold with you!” gasped the auctioneer.  “To bring two thousand sestertia with you!  Where is it then?”