In this moment of tender reunion he had promised her at any rate to
consider whether he could not release himself from the pledge by which he
was bound; but hardly had he spoken the words when the memory of Paula
revived in his mind, and an inward voice cried out to him that she was a
being of nobler mould than this yielding, weak woman, abject before him--
that she symbolized his upward struggle, Heliodora his perdition.

At length he was able to tear himself from her embrace; and at the first
step out of this intoxication into real life again he looked about like
one roused from sleep, feeling as though it were by some mocking sport of
the devil himself that Paula's room should have been the scene of this
meeting and of his weakness.

An enquiry from Heliodora, as to the fate of the little white dog that
she had given him as a remembrance, recalled to his mind that luckless
emerald which was to have been his return offering or antidoron. He
evasively replied that, remembering her love of rare gems, he had sent
her a remarkably fine stone about which he had a good deal to say; and
she gave such childlike and charming expression to her delight and
gratitude, and took such skilful advantage of his pleasure in her
clinging tenderness, to convince him of the necessity for remaining at
home, that he himself began to believe in it, and gave way. The more
this conclusion suited his own wishes the easier it became to find
reasons for it: old Rufinus really did not need him; and if he--Orion--
had cause to be ashamed of his vacillation, on the other hand he could
comfort himself by reflecting that it would be unkind and ungrateful to
his good friends to leave them in the lurch just when he could be of use
to them. One pair of protecting arms more or less could not matter to
the nuns, while the captive Narses might very probably perish before he