“Marry _you_!” she said, emphasizing the last word. “My lord Florus, you have a wife already!” “So had my predecessor Felix, but that did not prevent your sister Drusilla from marrying him.” “Poor deluded Drusilla! she would never have so acted but for the spells and sorceries of Simon Magus.” “Would that I knew where this Simon were to be found,” sighed the governor, “for then would I, too, employ him in the like office!” “You have the great Theomantes,” laughed Berenice. “Cannot he weave spells for you? or has he already done so, and failed? But, my lord Florus, have pity on your wife. Why do you desire wicked Berenice in place of the good Cleopatra?” “Fairest of women,” began the governor gallantly. “Nay,” said the princess, somewhat darkly, “Crispus hath openly deprived me of that title.” “A fool, who hath no eyes for real beauty.” “Is it Berenice the Fair or Berenice the Golden that you are seeking to woo?” “Mine,” answered Florus with a fine air of virtue, “mine is not a mercenary character.” “Except where the spoil of Zealots is concerned,” laughed Berenice. “I fear greatly that this morning’s revelation will deprive you of office.” The procurator, too, was very much of this opinion, but it was not pleasant to hear it from her. Masking his anger beneath a hollow smile, he said: “To gain you, princess, I would--yes! I would willingly turn proselyte, and that is more than Felix did for Drusilla.” “’Tis a tempting offer,” said Berenice, with a sweet mocking laugh that charmed while it maddened the procurator. “How the Jews would joy in their new convert! Picture me leading Florus by the hand to the temple, there to present him to Matthias as a pious neophyte!” Then, becoming grave again, she went on, “My father Agrippa was king of Judæa, and it has ever been my aim to control the destinies of this same land, an aim foredoomed to failure were I to marry you.” “Why so?” “O dullard! You have ruled because your wife was the friend of the Empress Poppæa.” (“_Was?_” thought Florus, wondering why she should use the past tense; he was soon to learn!) “Had you divorced Cleopatra to marry me you would have set the empress against you, and then where would have been your procuratorship?” This view of the case had often occurred to Florus himself. Still, what was the loss of his office compared with the handling of Berenice’s gold? “And,” continued Berenice, “even supposing that the empress, overlooking the slight to her friend Cleopatra, should be willing to maintain you in office, she can no longer do so, seeing that she is dead.” “Poppæa dead?” gasped Florus incredulously. “So saith my freedman Sadas.” “Whence did he learn it?”