apartments. He was in a grave mood, and when the prefect Titianus was
announced he kept him waiting till, with his own hand, he had laid a
fresh dressing on his favorite's burns.

"Go now, my lord," begged the Bithynian, when the Emperor had finished
his task with all the skill of a surgeon: "Titianus has been walking up
and down in there for the last quarter of an hour."

"And so he may," said the monarch. "And if the whole world is shrieking
for me it must wait till these faithful hands have had their due. Yes,
my boy! we will wander on through life together, inseparable comrades.
Others indeed do the same, and each one who goes through life side by
side with a companion sharing all he enjoys or suffers, comes to think at
last that he knows him as he knows himself; still the inmost core of his
friend's nature remains concealed from him. Then, some day Fate lets a
storm come raging down upon their; the last veil is torn, under the
wanderer's eyes, from the very heart of his companion, and at last he
really sees him as he is, like a kernel stripped of its shell, a bare and
naked body. Last night such a blast swept over us and let me see the
heart of my Antinous, as plainly as this hand I hold before my eyes.
Yes, yes, yes! for the man who will risk his young and happy existence
for a thing his friend holds precious would sacrifice ten lives if he had
them, for his friend's person. Never, my friend, shall that night be
forgotten. It gives you the right to do much that might pain me, and has
graven your name on my heart, the foremost among those to whom I am
indebted for any benefit.--They are but few."

Hadrian held out his hand to Antinous as he spoke. The boy, who had kept
his eyes fixed on the ground in much confusion, raised it to his lips and
pressed it against them in violent agitation. Then he raised his large