Then the conversation was more serious, and Caracalla said, so loud that Melissa could hear him: "Do not forget to whom you speak.

If my word is not enough, you can go back to prison." Then again she trembled for her brother; but some soft word of his mollified the fury of the terrible man, who was never the same for two minutes together.

The lion, too, which lay unchained by his master's seat, gave her a fright now and then; for if Caesar raised his voice in anger, he growled and stood up.
How fearful were this beast and his lord! Rather would she spend her whole life on a ship's deck, tossed to and fro by the surges, than share this man's fate.

And yet there was in him something which attracted her; nay, and it nettled her that he should forget her presence.
At last Alexander humbly asked Caracalla whether he might not tell Melissa to what he had pledged his word.
"That shall be my business," replied Caesar.

"You think that a mere girl is a better witness than none at all.