stared hopelessly before her while she reflected what next, and what more
would come upon her.

Meanwhile the Emperor was standing in a room just behind the antechamber
that had only been finished a few hours since. He began to regret his
hardness upon the old woman--for had she not, without knowing who he was,
been most friendly to him and to his favorite. "Where is Antinous?" he
asked Mastor.

"He went out to the gate-house."

"What is he doing there?"

"I believe he meant--there, perhaps he--"

"The truth, fellow!"

"He is with Pollux the sculptor."

"Has he been there long?"

"I do not exactly know."

"How long, I ask you?"

"He went after you had shut yourself in with Titianus."

"Three hours--three whole hours has he been with that braggart, whom I
ordered off the premises!" Hadrian's eye sparkled wrathfully as he
spoke. His annoyance at the absence of his favorite, whose society he