“May it please you to conduct me to the presence of the Vestal Maxima. I have a question to ask her.”
“Nay, I do not know whether I may disturb her. She is in her own apartment.”
“Say that the wife of Heraclitus, who is charged with the safe transit of the great obelisk from Alexandria, by the will of the Emperor, seeks information regarding one of the statues.”
The Vestal shook her head, and, turning to a severe-looking old Vestal who was passing, seemed to refer the matter to her for decision.
“Nay, surely, the Lady Maxima must not be disturbed. She has been watching all night, and is resting. Who seeks her?”
“That lady, with two attendants. She says she is the wife of a great personage.”
Then Cynthia, with her sweet voice, accosted the tall, severe-looking Vestal, saying, “May it please you to tell me if I can find the statue of Hyacintha Severa, one of the Vestales Maximæ?”
The dark eyes of the Vestal looked down on the slight form of Cynthia with a penetrating glance; and, struck with awe, Cynthia hastened to say:—
“The Vestal Maxima was my father’s sister. I came hither with him when a little child, of which I have a dim memory; but my aunt was held in great honour, and love and reverence, by my father and by good Claudius, our friend, and I wish to see her statue.”