unless she be firmly resolved to become Caesar's wife. If she can not
bring herself to this, the apartments which belong to us must be closed
against her, as against a dangerous foe."

"And whither can she go?" asked Euryale, sadly and with tearful eyes, for
there was no gainsaying so definite an order from her lord and master.
"The moment she is missed, they will search her father's house; and, if
she takes advantage of Berenike's ship, it will soon be discovered that
it was your brother's wife who helped her to escape from Caracalla."

"Berenike will know what to do," answered Timotheus, composedly. "She,
if any one, knows how to take care of herself. She has the protection of
her influential brother-in-law, Coeranus; and just now there is nothing
she would not do to strike a blow at her hated enemy."

"How sorrow and revenge have worked upon that strange woman!" exclaimed
the lady, sadly. "Caracalla has injured her, it is true--"

"He has, and to-day he has added a further, deeper insult, for he forces
her to appear in the Amphitheater, with the wives of the other citizens
who bear the cost of this performance. I was there, and heard him say to
Seleukus, who was acting as spokesman, that he counted on seeing his
wife, of whom he had heard so much, in her appointed place this evening.

"This will add fuel to the fire of her hatred. If she only does not allow
her anger to carry her away, and to show it in a manner that she will
afterward regret!--But my time is short. I have to walk before the
sacred images in full ceremonial vestments, and accompanied by the priest
of Alexander. You, unfortunately, take no pleasure in such spectacles.
Once more, then--if the girl is determined to fly, she must not return