glancing toward Melissa, exclaimed:

"Those little hands there contain more healing power than yours and the
great Galenus's put together."

Thereupon he beckoned to the young girl, and when she once more besought
his permission to go, he left the room with the commanding cry, "You are
to wait!"

He had rather far to go and some steps to mount in order to reach the
balcony which ran round the base of the cupola of the Pantheon which his
father had joined to the Serapeum, yet he undertook this willingly, as
thence he could best be seen and heard.

A few hours earlier it would have been impossible for him to reach this
point, and Epagathos had arranged that a sedan-chair and strong bearers
should be waiting at the foot of the steps; but he refused it, for he
felt entirely restored, and the shouts of his warriors intoxicated him
like sparkling wine.

Meanwhile Melissa remained behind in the audience-chamber. She must obey
Caesar's command. Yet it frightened her; and, besides, she was woman
enough to feel it as an offense that the man who had assured her so
sincerely of his gratitude, and who even feigned to love her, should have
refused so harshly her desire to rest. She foresaw that, as long as he
remained in Alexandria, she would have to be his constant companion. She
trembled at the idea; yet, if she tried to fly from him, all she loved
would be lost. No, this must not be thought of! She must remain.

She threw herself on a divan, lost in thought, and as she realized the