In this, to be sure, they were disappointed, for the dragoman was taciturn and the Masdakite could speak no Egyptian, and Greek very ill.  So, after various futile attempts to make the new-comers talk, they paid no further heed to them, and Orion’s secretary became the chief speaker.  He had already told them yesterday much that was fresh and interesting about the Imperial court; to-day he entered into fuller details of the brilliant life his young lord had led at Constantinople, whither he had accompanied him.  He described the three races he had won in the Circus with his own horses; gave a lively picture of his forcing his way with only five followers through a raging mob of rioters, from the palace to the church of St. Sophia; and then enlarged on Orion’s successes among the beauties of the Capital.

“The queen of them all,” he went on in boastful accents, “was Heliodora —­no flute-player nor anything of that kind; no indeed, but a rich, elegant, and virtuous patrician lady, the widow of Flavianus, nephew to Justinus the senator, and a relation of the Emperor.  All Constantinople was at her feet, the great Gratian himself sought to win her, but of course, in vain.  There is no palace to compare with hers in all Egypt, not even in Alexandria.  The governor’s residence here—­for I think nothing of mere size—­is a peasant’s hut—­a wretched barn by comparison!  I will tell you another time what that casket of treasures is like.  Its door was besieged day and night by slaves and freedmen bringing her offerings of flowers and fruit, rare gifts, and tender verses written on perfumed, rose-colored silk; but her favors were not to be purchased till she met Orion.  Would you believe it:  from the first time she saw him in Justinus’ villa she fell desperately in love with him; it was all over with her; she was his as completely as the ring on my finger is mine!”

And in his vanity he showed his hearers a gold ring, with a gem of some value, which he owed to the liberality of his young master.  “From that day forth,” he eagerly went on, “the names of Orion and Heliodora were in every mouth, and how often have I seen men quite beside themselves over the beauty of this divine pair.  In the Circus, in the theatre, or sailing about the Bosphorus—­they were to be seen everywhere together; and through the hideous, bloody struggle for the throne they lived in a Paradise of their own.  He often took her out in his chariot; or she took him in hers.”

“Such a woman has horses too?” asked the head groom contemptuously.

“A woman!” cried the secretary.  “A lady of rank!—­She has none but bright chestnuts; large horses of Armenian breed, and small, swift beasts from the island of Sardinia, which fly on with the chariot, four abreast, like hunted foxes.  Her horses are always decked with flowers and ribbons fluttering from the gold harness, and the grooms know how to drive them too!—­Well, every one thought that our young lord and the handsome