Arethusa

rain-bleached cord that were knotted through holes in the wood. She also shut the door and put up a wooden bar across it. While she was doing this she could hear Anastasia, the crazy paralytic who

us a little food,

eeison!

gel, gives us meat, fo

n, a kid roasted on the coals and good bread

us and send us a savoury meal of pottage! Eleeiso

h sweet cooked herbs! Eleeison, let us eat and be filled, and sleep! Eleeison! Spread

are starving! Eleeis

; and then there came a little low, faint wailing, as the mad woman collaps

lame, and with this she had lit the small wick of an earthen lamp which held mingled oil and sheep's fat. But she placed the light on the stone floor so shaded that not a single ray could fall towards the door or the cracked shutters, lest some late returning beggar should see a glimmer from outside and

om a small jug which Nectaria had brought, and warmed it over the coals in a cracked cup, and held it t

azed at this delicious meal with hungry eyes. They were boys, not more than seven and eight years old, and their rags were tied to them, to cover them, with all sorts of bits of string and strips of torn linen. But they were quite quiet, and did not try to take their

the money,' said Nectaria.

an, in a sweet and faint voice. 'You are only

romised to bring a physician to see you, and to give us money for what you need. He will come in t

nched her black bread, but would say nothing, and

her at last, fixing her sad eyes on Zo?'s face. 'Did ever

meeting her mother's gaze quietly. Yet

oman. 'I understand. But it wi

hear them, and would not have understood; but old Nectaria heard and made signs to Zo?. The signs mea

e earthen jar of water. Then they sat still and silent for a little while, and tho

es! Eleeison! We are starving!

asleep, to a sort of bunk of boards and dry straw, in a small inner room, and put them to bed, covering them as well as she could; and they were soon asleep. She came back, shading

r to-night,'

ook her hea

thout food, without fire?' she asked. 'Yes-she is be

Zo?. 'The Bokharian has

with me this afternoon, out in the street. I implored him to give us a littl

hat if he would help us now you wo

atch them. He says plainly that until you can make up your mind, we shall have only the three pennies he gives us every day, and if your mother dies, so mu

ressed her forehead against them, closing her eyes. 'It is

inkled cheek to the cold wall, so that her fa

a little in her distress, 'I shall see

your mother now--'

answered Zo?. 'My father's long imprisonment, his

trembling shoulder, but Zo? mastered herself after a

pered. 'There is no other way-unless I give my soul, too.

' sighed the poor old woman; she took the rags of

the taller by a head, and she t

save you all from death, since I can. If I wait longer, I shall grow thinner, and t

is slavery? That he will take you and sell you in the mar

kissed the

ds from the earthen lamp on the floor, fell upon her lovely upturned face,

still beautiful?' sh

t her, 'it is true. You were not a prett

terrup

ls as beautiful as I are of

man. 'When I was in the market I neve

d herself, when

were better fed before they were sold, but we waited on them-we whom

hundred Venetian ducat

d the old slave, and the tears came to her eyes, though

nstantly, and Nectaria shuffled as fast as she could to the pan of coal

plained the suff

ds and began to chafe it

ke ice,'

he slipped off her ragged outer garment, the long-skirted coat of the Greeks, and spread

' protested the

' answered Zo?, whose

he pillow as she had done before, and held the c

er mother. 'I shall die. I

for years, if it had been only a matter of money, but it had become a question of life and death after Rhangabé had been executed, and none of them would risk being blinded, or maimed, or perhaps strangled for the sake of helping her. Then she had fallen into abject poverty; her slaves had all been taken from her with the rest of the property and sold again in the market, but old Nectaria had hidden herself and so had escaped; and she, who knew the city, had brought Kyría Agatha and her three children to the beggars' quarter as a last refuge, when no one would take them in. The old slave had toiled for them, and begged for them, and would have stolen for them if she had not been profoundly convinced that stealing was not only a crime punishable

, at last, two boys were born to them within eighteen months. Michael Rhangabé's affection for the adopted girl never suffered the slightest change. Kyría Agatha loved her own children better, as any mother would, and as any children would have a right to expect when they were old enough to reason. She had not been unkind to Zo?, still less had she conceived a dislike for her; but she had grown indifferent

loved the boys best, but she was already too womanly not to feel that human nature must have its way where the ties of flesh and blood are concerned; and besides, if her adoptive mother had been cruel and cold, instead of only indifferent where she had once been loving, the girl would still have given her life for her, for dead Rh

ied to think of something more that she might do, whil

r, now?' she a

le. Thank y

rare and lovely self. A hundred golden ducats were a fortune. In old Nectaria's hands such a sum would buy real comfort for more than a year, and in that time no one could tell what might happen. A turn of fortune might bring the Emperor John back to the throne. He had been a weak ruler, but neither cruel nor ungr

for there was no other way to save Agatha

said the sick woman, o

ments, saw that it was the last; but Kyría Agatha was surely better, and would ask for more dur

ck of the ruined house in order to light the charcoal in the open air. T

ing that she was cold and half-starved, as the

words of the mad woman's crooning a

d, as she would have answered

e us meat, we starve!' came the

n!' answered Z

With one hand she gathered her thin rags across her bosom, the other unconsciously wen

nd busy with the pan of coals, and the sick woman heard nothing, for she was sound asleep at last.

very low tone, clasping her

oth voice answered

suddenly obliged to go on a

lt that the last chance of savi

me?' asked Ru

es

nd? I will give half as m

ad come very suddenly. She made an effort to swallow, in order to speak di

money with you?' Zo?

es

d and then, with infinite precaution, she slipped out the wooden bar that kept the door closed. Once more she drew her rags over her, for they had fallen back when she used both her han

ep sleep,' she said. 'Give me t

stretched hand a small bag made of coarse s

is it?' sh

harian under his breath, for he knew that if he did n

ght her eye and held out the heavy little bag. The woman stared, looked at Ky

the bag into Nectaria's trembling hands. 'It is the only way. Good-bye-quick-sh

came the wail of the

out hurting it. The fleet young creature might make a dash for freedom yet, foolish as that would be, since he could easily force his way into the ruined house and take back his money if she escaped him. But he had nearly lost a young slave once before, and

heard the wild cry of the poor mad creature she had listened to so often by day a

oup of men who were waiting for them. One suddenly held up a lantern which had been covered, and now shed a yellow light through thin leaves of horn, and Zo? saw that he was a big

e warm cloak over her shoulders from behind her, and

r,' said Rustan, sh

t upon the edge, and bent her head to slip into the conveyance backwards, as Eastern women learn to do very easily. Rustan held her wrist till she was ready to draw in her feet, and as he let her go at last she disappe

rdly swaying from side to side, and not rising or falling at all, as the porters walked on with a smooth, shuffling gait, each timing his step a fraction of a seco

urprise or curiosity in a city where every well-to-do person who went out in the evening was carried in a palanquin, and accompanied by at least two trusty servants. For that matter, too

gned by the father or mother or owner of the slave, but he knew that he was quite safe without it. Like all Bokharians, he was a profound judge of human nature, and he was quite sure that having once submitted to her fate Zo? would not cheat him by claiming the freedom she had sacrificed; moreover, he knew that the adopted daughter of Michael Rhangabé who had died on the stake in the Hippodrome as an enemy of t

ction, and that he would be willing to give three hundred and fifty sequins, though the girl was a little over age, as slaves' ages were counted. She should have been between sixteen and seventeen, yet she was exceptionally pretty, and spoke three languages-Greek, Latin, and Italian. If Zeno paid the price, the clear profit would be two hundred and twelve and a half ducats. The beads worked quickly in Rustan's fingers, and his hard grey eyes gleamed in the dark. Two hundred and twelve and a half on one hundred and thirty-seven and a half, by the new Venetia

hing but a first failure, for if he did not succeed in buying Zo? in time he could nevertheless show the Venetian merchant some very pretty wares. Zeno was not a man to waste words with such a creature as a slave-dealer, and the interview had not lasted ten minutes. It had taken longer than that to weigh the ducats in

nights, and she did not regret it; she would not have gone back, now that she had left plenty and comfort where there had been nothing but ruin and hunger; but she thought of

ll fed, it was true, and she need not fear cruel treatment; but customers would come, perhaps to-morrow, and she was to be shown to them like a valuable horse; they would judge her points and discuss her and the sum that Rustan would ask; and if they thought the price too high they would go away and others would come, and others, till a bargain was struck at last. After that, s

e firmer tread of Rustan's well-shod feet where the road was hard. She guessed that he was avoiding the great thoroughfares, probably because the people who thronged them even at that hour would have hindered the progress of the palanquin. Zo? knew as well as the dealer that there was nothing as yet in the transaction which need be hidden; possibly, if she were afterwards sold to t

l, very far from bloodthirsty; but when she thought of him she felt that she would kill him if she could, and that it would only be justice. Suddenly a ray of something like hope flashed through her darkness. Nectaria had told her how beautiful she was; perhaps, being so much more valuable than most of the slaves that went to the market, she might be destined for the Emp

and felt that the porters turned short to the left to e