Where are the children?
Let us walk.' Not far away she discovered three little boys, two of them her own, who were playing at battles and sieges upon stairs which descended from this terrace to the hippodrome below.

After watching them awhile, with laughter and applause, she threw an arm round Veranilda's waist, and drew her on to a curved portico where, in a niche, stood a statue of Antinous.
'Is that one of their gods, or an emperor ?' asked Athalfrida.

'I have seen his face again and again since we came here.' 'Indeed, I know not,' answered her companion.

'But surely he is too beautiful for a man.' 'Beautiful?
Never say that, child; for if it be as you think, it is the beauty of a devil, and has led who knows how many into the eternal fire.

Had I a hammer here, I would splinter the evil face.