Then Melissa poured forth this confession from her oppressed heart:

"Yes, I could not help remembering you constantly, . . . and I never
saw you in purple, but just as you had stood there on the steps; . . .
and then--ah! I have told you already how sorry I was for your
sufferings. I felt as if . . . but how can I describe it truly?--
as if you stood much nearer to me than the ruler of the world could
to a poor, humble girl. It was . . . eternal gods! . . ."

She stopped short; for she suddenly recollected anxiously that this
confession might prove fatal to her. The sentence about the time which
should be fulfilled for each was ringing in her ears, and it seemed to
her that she heard for the second time the lady Berenike's warning.

But Caracalla allowed her no time to think; for he interrupted her,
greatly pleased, with the cry:

"It is true, then! The immortals have wrought as great a miracle in you
as in me. We both owe them thanks, and I will show them how grateful I
can be by rich sacrifices. Our souls, which destiny had already once
united, have met again. That portion of the universal soul which of yore
dwelt in Roxana, and now in you, Melissa, has also vanquished the pain
which has embittered my life. . . You have proved it!--And now . . .
it is beginning to throb again more violently--now--beloved and restored
one, help me once more!"

Melissa perceived anxiously how the emperor's face had flushed again
during this last vehement speech, and at the same time the pain had again
contracted his forehead and eyes. And she obeyed his command, but this
time only in shy submission. When she found that he became quieter, and