the viridarium at midnight?--For she must have been there before that
ill-starred dog flew at Mandane. An assignation with the owner of the
shoes his mother had found was out of the question, for they belonged to
some man about the stables. Love, thought he, for a wonder had nothing
to do with it; but as he came in he had noticed a man crossing the court-
yard who looked like Paula's freedman, Hiram the trainer. Probably she
had arranged a meeting with her stammering friend in order--in order?--
Well, there was but one thing that seemed likely: She was plotting to fly
from his parents' house and needed this man's assistance.

He had seen within a few hours of his return that his mother did not make
life sweet to the girl, and yet his father had very possibly opposed her
wish to seek another home. But why should she avoid and hate him? In
that expedition on the river and on their way home he could have sworn
that she loved him, and the remembrance of those hours brought her near
to him again, and wiped out his schemes of vengeance against her, of
punishment to be visited on her. Then he thought of little Katharina
whom his mother intended him to marry, and at the thought he laughed
softly to himself. In the Imperial gardens at Constantinople he had once
seen a strange Indian bird, with a tiny body and head and an immensely
long tail, shining like silver and mother of pearl. This was Katharina!
She herself a mere nothing; but then her tail! vast estates and immense
sums of money; and this--this was all his mother saw. But did he need
more than he had? How rich his father must be to spend so large a sum
on an offering to the Church as heedlessly as men give alms to a beggar.

Katharina--and Paula!

Yes, the little girl was a bright, brisk creature; but then Thomas'
daughter--what power there was in her eye, what majesty in her gait,