been there to hear how the master had stormed and cursed over the infamy
they had had to endure; but the meeting with his birds had calmed him
down quickly enough.

Melissa and her attendant were walking in the direction of the Serapeum,
but now she declared that she must first see the liberated prisoners.
And she insisted upon it, although Argutis assured her of her father's
intention of seeking her at the house of the high-priest, as soon as he
had removed all traces of his captivity and his shameful work at the
galleys in the bath. Philip she would, of course, find at home, he being
too weak to leave the house. The old man had some difficulty in
following his young mistress, and she soon stepped lightly over the
"Welcome" on the threshold of her father's house. Never had the red
mosaic inscription seemed to shine so bright and friendly, and she heard
her name called in delighted tones from the kitchen.

This joyful greeting from Dido was not to be returned from the door only.
In a moment Melissa was standing by the hearth; but the slave, speechless
with happiness, could only point with fork and spoon, first to the pot in
which a large piece of meat was being boiled down into a strengthening
soup for Philip, then to a spit on which two young chickens were browning
before the fire, and then to the pan where she was frying the little fish
of which the returned wanderer was so fond.

But the old woman's struggle between the duty that kept her near the fire
and the love that drew her away from it was not of long duration. In a
few minutes Melissa, her hands clasping the slave's withered arm, was
listening to the tender words of welcome that Dido had ready for her.
The slave woman declared that she scarcely dared to let her eyes rest
upon her mistress, much less touch her with the fingers that had just