'He remembers that the hour is near and loosens not his hold! Come,' he continued, 'come out into the hall beyond!--it is time that we watch for more victims for the sacrifice till the sun goes down.

The Destroyer is mighty and must be obeyed!' He walked to the entrance leading into the first apartment of the temple, and then waited to be followed by Numerian, who, now for the first time separated from Ulpius, remained stationary in the position he had last occupied, and looked eagerly around him.

No chance of escape presented itself; the mouth of the vault on one side, and the passage through the partition on the other, were the only outlets to the place.

There was no hope but to follow the Pagan into the great hall of the temple, to keep carefully at a distance from him, and to watch the opportunity of flight through the doorway.

The street, so desolate when last beheld, might now afford more evidence that it was inhabited.