“And I?” exclaimed Timotheus, angrily.  “What am I to you since the death of our child?  For the sake of the first person that came to you as a poor substitute for our lost daughter, you are ready to go to your death, and to drag me with you into the gloom of Hades.  There speaks the Christian!  Even that gentle philosopher on the throne, Marcus Aurelius, was disgusted at your fellow-believers’ hideous mania for death.  The Christian expects in the next world all that is denied to him in this.  But we think of this life, in which the Deity has placed us.  To me life is the highest blessing, and yours is dearer to me than my own.  Therefore I say, firmly and decidedly:  Melissa must not make her escape from this house.  If she is determined to fly this night, let her do so—­I shall not hinder her.  If your counsel is of service to her, I am glad; but she must not enter this house again after the performance in the Circus, unless she be firmly resolved to become Caesar’s wife.  If she can not bring herself to this, the apartments which belong to us must be closed against her, as against a dangerous foe.”

“And whither can she go?” asked Euryale, sadly and with tearful eyes, for there was no gainsaying so definite an order from her lord and master.  “The moment she is missed, they will search her father’s house; and, if she takes advantage of Berenike’s ship, it will soon be discovered that it was your brother’s wife who helped her to escape from Caracalla.”

“Berenike will know what to do,” answered Timotheus, composedly.  “She, if any one, knows how to take care of herself.  She has the protection of her influential brother-in-law, Coeranus; and just now there is nothing she would not do to strike a blow at her hated enemy.”

“How sorrow and revenge have worked upon that strange woman!” exclaimed the lady, sadly.  “Caracalla has injured her, it is true—­”

“He has, and to-day he has added a further, deeper insult, for he forces her to appear in the Amphitheater, with the wives of the other citizens who bear the cost of this performance.  I was there, and heard him say to Seleukus, who was acting as spokesman, that he counted on seeing his wife, of whom he had heard so much, in her appointed place this evening.

“This will add fuel to the fire of her hatred.  If she only does not allow her anger to carry her away, and to show it in a manner that she will afterward regret!—­But my time is short.  I have to walk before the sacred images in full ceremonial vestments, and accompanied by the priest of Alexander.  You, unfortunately, take no pleasure in such spectacles.  Once more, then—­if the girl is determined to fly, she must not return here.  I repeat, if any one can help her to get away, it is Berenike.  Our sister-in-law must take the consequences.  Caesar can not accuse her of treason, at any rate, and her interference in the matter will clear us of all suspicion of complicity.”