make them ready and willing to renew their broken pledges.  Besides, each had cause to fear for the other; for Diodoros was afraid that the lady Euryale’s power was not far-reaching enough to conceal Melissa from Caesar’s spies, and Melissa trembled at the thought that the physician might too soon betray to Caesar that she had been betrothed before he had ever seen her, and to whom; for, in that case, Diodoros would be the object of relentless pursuit.  So she urged on her lover to embark, if possible, this very night.

Hitherto Alexander had taken no part in the conversation.  He could not forget the reception he had met with outside the amphitheatre.  Euryale’s presence had saved his sister from evil imputations, but had not helped him; and even his gay spirits could make no head against the consciousness of being regarded by his fellow-citizens as a hired traitor.  He had withdrawn to one of the back seats to see the performance; for as soon as the theatre was suddenly lighted up, he had become the object of dark looks and threatening gestures.  For the first time in his life he had felt compassion for the criminals torn by wild beasts, and for the wounded gladiators, whose companion in misfortune he vaguely felt himself to be.  But, what was worst of all, he could not regard himself as altogether free from the reproach of having accepted a reward for the service he had so thoughtlessly rendered.

Nor did he see the remotest possibility of ever making those whose opinion he cared for understand how it had come to pass that he should have acceded to the desire of the villain in the purple, now that his father, by showing himself to the people in the ‘toga pretexta’, had set the seal to their basest suspicions.  The thought that henceforth he could never hope to feel the grasp of an honest man’s hand gnawed at his heart.

The esteem of Diodoros was dear to him, and, when his young comrade spoke to him, he felt at first as though he were doing him an unexpected honor; but then he fell back into the suspicion that this was only for his sister’s sake.

The deep sigh that broke from him induced Melissa to speak a few words of comfort, and now the unhappy man’s bursting heart overflowed.  In eloquent words he described to Diodoros and Melissa all he had felt, and the terrible consequences of his heedless folly, and as he spoke acute regret filled his eyes with tears.

He had pronounced judgment on himself, and expected nothing of his friend but a little pity.  But in the darkness Diodoros sought and found his hand, and grasped it fervently; and if Alexander could but have seen his old playfellow’s face, he would have perceived that his eyes glistened as he said what he could to encourage him to hope for better days.