"Do you know of nothing better to wish for ?" "No, my lord, no!" cried Melissa, with importunate warmth.

"If you will give me what I most care for--" "I will, yes, I will," interrupted the emperor in a softer voice; but suddenly shrugging his shoulders, he continued, regretfully: "But you must have patience; for, by the Egyptian's orders, your people have been for some time afloat and at sea." "No!" the girl assured him.

"They are still here.

Zminis has shamefully deceived you;" and then she informed him of what she had learned from her brother.
Caracalla, in obedience to a softer impulse, had wished to show himself grateful to Melissa.

But her demand displeased him; for the sculptor and his son, the philosopher, were the security that should keep Melissa and the painter attached to him.