gaily she took Martius' hand and walked by his side.

"Thou art very beautiful to-night, sister mine," he said, with a boy's
admiration for her finery. Virgilia's laugh rang out and the group
waiting silently for her arrival, heard it. The Senator smiled,
Claudia drew her draperies around her with a hand that trembled a
little. Aurelius frowned. He wished with all his heart that he had
never signed that document which bound her to this man.

"It is my fine clothes," replied Virgilia. "A peacock would be nothing
without his gay feathers. What is the feast to-night, Martius?"

"I know not. Perhaps some friends of father's have come to eat and
drink with us."

The Senator rose with difficulty as the radiant girl entered, led by
Martius.

Amazed, Virgilia looked at her mother.

"I was called," she said, and she grew very pale.

Some time before, her mother had informed her that the great Senator
had asked her hand, but, after a conversation with her father she had
been assured that negotiations would be dropped. This man, the meaning
of the decoration of the rooms with gay Autumn blossoms of yellow and
purple; this was to be her betrothal and she had not been told. In a
flash, it was revealed to her that it was a result of her refusal to
do homage to the gods that morning. Very well, she would suffer the
consequences bravely. But, in the house to which she was to go, she