The little one was always her mother's darling. Eternal gods! I dare
not think of it! If only she who is gone might have had the joy of
hearing me called senator and praetor! O child! if she could have sat
with us to-day in the emperor's seats, and we two could have seen you
there--you, our pride, honored by the whole city, Caesar's future bride."

Here the strong man with the soft heart broke down, and, clasping his
hands over his face, sobbed aloud, while Melissa clung to him and stroked
his bearded cheeks.

Under her loving words of consolation he soon regained his composure,
and, still struggling against the rising tears, he cried:

"Thank Heaven, there can be no more foolish talk of flight! I shall stay
here; I shall never take advantage of the ivory chair that belongs to me
in the curia in Rome. Your husband, my child, and the state, would
scarcely expect it of me. If, however, Caesar presents me as his father,
with estates and treasures, my first thought shall be to raise a monument
to your mother. You shall see! A monument, I tell you, without a rival.
It shall represent the strength of man submissive to womanly charm."

He bent down to kiss his daughter's brow, and whispered in her ear:

"Gaze confidently into the future, my girl. A father's eye is not easily
deceived, and so I tell you--that the emperor has been forced to shed
blood do insure the safety of the throne; but, in personal intercourse
with him, I learned to know your future husband as a noble-hearted man.
Indeed, I am not rich enough to thank the gods for such a son-in-law!"

Melissa gazed after her father, incapable of speaking. It went to her