After all, there had come a gleam of hope.
Cornelia needed the encouragement.

That same day when Herennia called to see her, that excellent young lady--for not the least reason in the world--had been full of stories of poisoning and murders, how some years ago a certain Balbutius of Larinum was taken off, it was said, at a wedding feast of a friend for whom the poison had been intended; and then again she had to tell how, at another time, poison had been put in a bit of bread of which the victim partook.

The stories were old ones and perhaps nothing more than second-hand scandal, but they were enough to make poor Cornelia miserable; so she was doubly rejoiced when Agias that evening pressed his lips again and smiled and said briefly: "All is going well.

We shall have the root of the matter in a few days." Agias had actually come upon what he was right in considering a great piece of good fortune.

He had easily found the tenement in the Subura where Pratinas lodged, but to learn anything there that would be useful was a far more difficult affair.