sincere thanksgiving as she murmured with a sigh of relief, "For this
mercy the gods be praised!"

She unclasped her hands from her heaving bosom, and said to the steward
who had followed the messengers:

"Caesar will not be present. Inform your lord, but so that no one else
may hear. He must come here and receive the imperial representatives
with me. Then have my couch quietly removed and the banquet served at
once. O Coeranus, you can not imagine the misery I am thus spared!"

"Berenike!" said the senator, in a warning voice, and he laid his
finger on his lips. Then turning to the young supplicant, he said to her
in a tone of regret: "So your walk is for nothing, fair maid. If you are
as sensible as you are pretty, you will understand that it is too much to
ask any one to stand between the lion and the prey which has roused his
ire."

The lady, however, did not heed the caution which her brother-in-law
intended to convey. As Melissa's imploring eyes met her own, she said,
with clear decision:

"Wait here. We shall see who it is that Caesar sends. I know better
than my lord here what it is to see those dear to us in peril. How old
are you, child?"

"Eighteen," replied Melissa.

"Eighteen?" repeated Berenike, as if the word were a pain to her, for her
daughter had been just of that age. Then she said, louder and with