'Nika?'

'Yes, Nika. Thou surely must have heard I wooed and won her?'

'Indeed, I have not; but I congratulate thee, my lucky fellow.'

'That is from thy heart and true, Chios?'

'It is.'

'Then we may be the fastest friends.'

'And what say Lucius and Venusta?'

'Delighted.'

'Good, very good!'

'And--yet another bit of news for you, Chios, for it seems thou art not a fruitful newsmonger.'

'What is it?'

'The sudden death of the High Priestess of Artemis.'

'Is it so?' and a deathly pallor spread over the face of Chios.

'Art thou ill?'

'No.'

'But I have not finished.'

'What more--not of gloom, I hope?'

'No; a sudden freak of fortune, if rumour speaks correctly.'

'Speak out.'

'Well, just this: it is commonly reported that the dark-eyed slave of Venusta will be elected to fill the place of the Arch-Priestess.'

'What! Saronia?'

'Yes, Saronia. Thou art her friend. True, her time as priestess has been very brief, but for that strange being it seems mortals suspend their laws just like the G.o.ds did theirs for the Hebrew, when the sun stood still that he might slay. Look at her! Just awhile since a slave. One fine day she took it into her head to run for sanctuary to the Temple, and got there--was received--commenced her studies. From this, in a most unprecedented way, bounded into the priesthood, and already, I am told, she stands out with fearful power and wonderful knowledge, inasmuch as the priestesses longest in the service stand back in awe and say: "She is the fittest to serve in chief the G.o.ddess, and command her servants."

A High Priestess she will be, mark my words. There is a great destiny before that girl. I hear of her power from Nika. Somehow, she closely follows the course of Saronia, and speaks of her with dread. Why, I know not. Now, Chios, what thinkest thou of all this?'

'I think it pa.s.sing strange. 'Tis like a dream. This is her destiny. She is no ordinary being. Her spirit towers above its fellows, and must command---- I will call at Venusta's at sundown. Perhaps we may hear more on this subject.'

'Do so, Chios, and I will meet thee. What art thou painting?'

'But little.'

'Ah, cunning dog! I saw thee turn thy picture quickly away as I entered, and, swiftly as thou didst it, I had time to catch a glimpse of a girl as High Priestess offering sacrifice to Hecate. Am I right?'

'Thou speakest knowingly, good Varro.'

'Chios, I am not wide of the mark, and shall I say the face was that of Saronia? Art thou a seer, Chios? After all, then, my news was not news to thee? Thou art a sly fellow!'

'No, I am not a seer.'

'Well, then, we will call thee painter; but one thing is certain, thou hast studied her closely, to remember her features so well. Thou hast a keen appreciation of the beautiful, and an excellent knowledge of the future, to paint Saronia as High Priestess. Farewell, Chios; I am off.

We meet to-night, and may the G.o.ds be propitious!'

That evening Chios visited Venusta's home, the house of his friend. The Roman was there. Lucius had sailed o'er sunny seas to Britain. Nika seemed happy, and laughed with joyous glee as if she had never one day of sorrow.

Venusta was delighted to behold Chios, and said:

'Why hast thou kept so long from us? We thought thou wouldst never return, and long since looked up our stray sayings to find if perchance we might have unwittingly offended thee. But naught could we find whereby we could p.r.o.nounce ourselves guilty, so concluded thou hadst found some pretty maid during the Artemision month, and wert busy preparing for thy nuptials. Is it so, Chios?'

'No.'

'Now, do not vex! Art grown thin-skinned, and cannot take this saying of mine as a joke?'

'Nay,' replied he, 'I am emphatic because I mean it. So many falsehoods are told by lovers that if I were not in earnest thou wouldst perhaps doubt my answer.'

'Ah! Thou hast not yet seen the ideal set up within thee. Never mind; persevere, Chios, and she may come to thee sooner than expected. Then we will take the laughing side, and thou must bear with all our points of wit. We will deal leniently; will not let an arrow fly when thy counterpart is near. No, we will be demure, as if we never spoke to thee of such a childish thing as love. Let us change the subject, Chios. Thou hast heard my dearest has left his home once more to visit foreign lands?'

'Yes, I heard. Lucius could not leave Ephesus without the poorest Ionian youth knowing it. He belongs to the people; they watch his coming home and leaving. I should have come to say farewell, but at the time I was prostrated by a touch of Ephesian fever. Not serious, but just enough, as Lucius would say, to make me haul on sh.o.r.e.'

'Yes, those beautiful savages have again rebelled against the Roman State, and the Emperor summoned Lucius with his fleet to the mouth of the Tiber to ship reinforcements for those distant parts. By this time he is well on his journey.'

'How long will he remain?'

'That is quite uncertain. I understand, after disembarking the soldiers, he will sail round the northern sh.o.r.es of the great island, and if the winds fail him the rowers will have a dreadful time, for by accounts the waters there are sluggish and leaden, inasmuch that strong winds driving on the sh.o.r.e make faint impressions on the lifeless seas. The G.o.ds speed him, and may he soon return. I have instructed him to bring a British girl for slave for Nika; and I truly hope, if he bring such, she may not be like that dark, mysterious one we owned, by name Saronia. She nearly frightened Nika out of her senses--did she not, girl?'

Nika was silent, and a gloom spread over her face like a funeral pall, and the joy of her life grew faint and low.

'I have been speaking of Saronia to Chios,' said Varro.

'And what thinkest thou of her, Chios?'

'Why should I say?' replied he.

'Speak on; we know thou wilt favour her.'

'What, then, do you wish me to say? I cannot speak as if I were delivering an oration on Saronia.'

'To be plain, then,' said Venusta, 'dost thou think it meet that this slave-girl should fill the throne of the High Priestess of Diana?'

'Yes, I do.'