She, for an instant, bore it impatiently, but of a sudden her countenance changed, and she met the gaze with a half-mocking smile.
'Is this one of your jealous days ?' she asked, with what was meant for playfulness, though the shining of her eyes and teeth in the lamplight gave the words rather an effect of menace.
'Perhaps it is,' answered the Syrian.

'What did Bessas say to you ?' 'Many things.

He ended by asking me to sup at the palace.

You will own that the invitation was tempting.' Sagaris glared fiercely at her, and drew upon himself a look no less fierce.
'Fool!' she exclaimed, once more speaking in a natural voice.

'How shall we live a month hence?
Have you a mind to steal away to the Goths?
If you do so, you can't expect me to starve here alone.
Thick-willed slave! Can you see no further than the invitation to sup with that thievish brute ?--which I should have accepted, had I not foreseen the necessity of explaining to your dulness all that might follow upon it.' Esteeming himself the shrewdest of mankind, Sagaris deeply resented these insults, not for the first time thrown at him by the woman whom he regarded with an Oriental passion and contempt.
'Of course I know what you mean,' he replied disdainfully.