She claimed descent from some mythical eastern potentate and was a native of Circassia, the land of beautiful women. No one knew how she had found her way to Rome. The fame of Marozia's evil beauty and her sinister repute had in time attracted Persephoné, and she had been immediately received in Marozia's service, where she remained till the revolt of Alberic swept her mistress into the dungeons of Castel San Angelo. Thereupon she had attached herself to Theodora who loved the wild and beautiful creature and confided in her utterly. "Evil and troubled have been my dreams," Theodora continued, as the morning light fell in through the parted curtains. "At the sound of your footfall I started up--fearing--I knew not what--" "For a long time have I held out against his pleadings and commands," Persephoné replied in a subdued voice, "knowing that my lady slept. But he will not be denied,--and his insistence had begun to frighten me. So at last I dared brave my lady's anger and disturb her--" "Frighten you, Persephoné?" Theodora's musical laughter resounded through the chamber. "You--who braved death at these white hands of mine without flinching?" She extended her hands as if to impress Persephoné with their beauty and strength. Whatever the circumstance referred to, Persephoné made no reply. Only her face turned a shade more pale. The draped figure had meanwhile arisen to her full height, as she stretched the sleep from her limbs, then, her question remaining unanswered, she continued: "But--of whom do you speak? A new defiance from Roxana? A new insult from the Senator of Rome? I would have it understood," this with a slight lift of the voice, "that even were the end of the world at hand, of which they prate so much of late, and heaven and earth to crumble into chaos, I would not be disturbed to listen to shallow plaints and mock heroics." "It is neither the one nor the other," replied Persephoné with an apprehensive glance of her slanting eyes over her shoulder, "but my Lord Basil, the Grand Chamberlain. He waits without where the eunuchs guard your slumber, and his eyes are aflame with something more than impatience--" At the mention of the name a subtle change passed over the listener's face, and a sombre look crept into her eyes as she muttered: "What can he be bringing now?" Then, with a sudden flash, she added, tossing back her beautiful head: "Let the Lord Basil wait! And now, Persephoné, remove from me the traces of sleep and set the couches in better order." Silently and quickly the Circassian sprang forward and rolled back the curtains from the lattices, letting a stronger but still subdued light enter the chamber, revealing, as it did, many a chased casket, and mirrors of polished steel and bronze, and lighting up exquisite rainbow hued fabrics, thrown carelessly over lion-armed chairs, with here and there an onyx table wonderfully carved.