“That is true,” the prefect said, confirming this statement.  “And I dare swear she is a free maiden, and not a slave.  But you stood up for her friend Pollux—­what do you know about her?”

“That she is the daughter of Keraunus, the palace-steward, and that I have known her from her childhood,” answered the youthful artist emphatically.  “He is a Roman citizen, and of an old Macedonian house as well.”

“Perhaps even of royal descent,” added Titianus, laughing.

“I know the man,” answered the dealer hastily.  “He is an impecunious insolent old fool.”

“I should think,” interrupted Verus with lofty composure, but rather as being bored, than as reproving the irritated speaker, “it seems to me that this is hardly the place to conduct a discussion as to the nature and disposition of the fathers of all those ladies and young girls.”

“But he is poor,” cried the dealer angrily.  “A few days since he offered to sell me his few miserable curiosities, but really I could not—­”

“We are sorry for your sake if the transaction was unsuccessful,” Verus again interposed, this time with excessive politeness.  “Now, first let us decide on the persons and afterwards on the costumes.  The father of the girl is a Roman citizen then?”

“A member of the council, and in his way a man of position,” replied Titianus.

“And I,” added his wife Julia, “have taken a great fancy to the sweet little maid, and if the principal part is given to her, and her noble father is without adequate means, as you assert my friend, I will undertake to provide for her costume.  Caesar will be charmed with such a Roxana.”

The dealer’s clients were silent, he himself was trembling with disappointment and vexation, and his fury rose to the utmost when Plutarch, whom till then he thought he had won over to his daughter’s side, tried to bow his bent old body before dame Julia, and said with a graceful gesture of regret: 

“My old eyes have deceived me again on this occasion.  The little girl is very like one of my workwomen; very like—­but I see now that there is a certain something which the other lacks.  I have done her an injustice and remain her debtor.  Permit, me, noble lady to add the ornaments to the dress you provide for our Roxana.  I may be lucky enough to find something pretty for her.  A sweet child!  I shall go at once and beg her forgiveness and tell her what we propose.  May I do so noble Julia?  Have I your permission gentlemen?”

In a very few minutes it was known all over the stage, and soon after all through the amphitheatre, that Arsinoe, the daughter of Keraunus, had been selected to represent the character of Roxana.

“But who was Keraunus?”

“How was it that the children of the most illustrious and wealthy citizens had been overlooked in assigning this most prominent part?”

“This was just what might be expected when every thing was left to those reckless artists!”