It was Orestes'; and so was the handwriting .... Strange that he
should have chosen such a messenger! What message could it be which
required such secrecy?

She clapped her hands for the maid. 'Let this woman wait in the
ante-room.' Miriam glided out backwards, bowing as she went. As
Hypatia looked up over the letter to see whether she was alone, she
caught a last glance of that eye still fixed upon her, and an
expression in Miriam's face which made her, she knew not why,
shudder and turn chill.

'Foolish that I am! What can that witch be to me? But now for the
letter.'

'To the most noble and most beautiful, the mistress of philosophy,
beloved of Athene, her pupil and slave sends greeting.'....

'My slave! and no name mentioned!'

'There are those who consider that the favourite hen of Honorius,
which bears the name of the Imperial City, would thrive better under
a new feeder; and the Count of Africa has been despatched by himself
and by the immortal gods to superintend for the present the poultry-
yard of the Caesars--at least during the absence of Adolf and
Placidia. There are those also who consider that in his absence the
Numidian lion might be prevailed on to become the yoke-fellow of the
Egyptian crocodile; and a farm which, ploughed by such a pair,
should extend from the upper cataract to the Pillars of Hercules,
might have charms even for a philosopher. But while the ploughman
is without a nymph, Arcadia is imperfect. What were Dionusos