"Go back into the garden and wait till I come," Arsinoe commanded him
decidedly. "I will only see how Selene is going on; I will not stop long
for my father wishes me to return soon, and no one can nurse her better
than Hannah!"

The girl drew her hand out of her lover's and knocked at the door of the
little house; it was opened and the widow herself led Arsinoe to the
bedside of her sister. Pollux at first sat a while on a bench in the
garden, but soon sprang up and paced with long steps the path he had
previously trodden with Arsinoe. A stone table across the path, brought
him to a stand-still, and he took a fancy for leaping it. The third time
he came up to it he sprang over it with a long jump. But no sooner had
he done the frolicsome deed than he paused, shook his head at himself and
muttered to himself: "Like a boy!"--He felt indeed like a happy child.
But as he waited he became calmer and graver. He acknowledged to
himself, with sincere thankfulness, that he had now found the ideal
woman, of whom he had dreamed in his hours of best inspiration, and that
she was his, wholly and alone. And after all, what was he? A poor
rascal who had many mouths to fill, and was no more than two fingers of
his master's hand. This must be altered. He would not reduce his
sister's comforts in any way but he must break with Papias, and stand
henceforth on his own feet. His courage mounted fast, and when at last,
Arsinoe returned from her sister, he had resolved that he must first
finish Balbilla's bust with all diligence in his own workshop, and that
then he would model his beloved; these two female heads he could not fail
in. Caesar must see them, they must be exhibited, and already in his
mind's eye, he saw himself refusing order after order, and accepting only
the most splendid where all were good.

Arsinoe went home comforted. Selene's sufferings were certainly less