magnificent bunch of flowers, and another, who sat perched on a dolphin,
handed her, as a ticket of admission, a finely-cut ornament of ivory
mounted in gold, with a pin, by which the invited owner was intended to
fix it like a brooch in her peplum; and at each entrance to the theatre,
the ladies, as they came in, had a similar present made them.

The passage leading to the auditorium was full of perfume, and Arsinoe,
who had already visited this theatre two or three times, hardly
recognized it, it was so gaily decorated with colored scarfs. And who
had ever seen ladies and young girls filling the best places instead of
men, as was the case to-day? Indeed the citizens' daughters were in
general not permitted to see a theatrical performance at all, unless on
very special and exceptional occasions. She looked up with a smile at
the empty topmost rows of the cheapest seats of the semicircular
auditorium, as one looks at an old playfellow one had outgrown by a head,
for it was there--when she had occasionally been permitted to dip into
their scanty common purse--that she had almost fainted many a time, with
pleasure, fear, or sympathy, though the draught so high up and under the
open heaven which was the only roof, was incessantly blowing; and in
summer the discomforts were even greater from the awning which shaded the
amphitheatre on the sunny side. The wide breadths of canvas were managed
by means of stout ropes, and when these were pulled through the rings
they rode in, they made a screech which compelled the bearer to stop his
ears; and often it was necessary to duck his head not to be hit by the
heavy ropes or by the awning itself. But Arsinoe only remembered these
things to-day as a butterfly sporting in the sun may remember the hideous
pupa-case that it has burst and left behind it.

Radiant with happy excitement, she was led to her seat with her young
companion, the black-haired daughter of the shipwright. She perceived