"But wherefore comes not Sempronia?" inquired Fulvia, not very much displeased by the absence of a rival beauty.
"Brutus is called away, it appears, suddenly to Tarentum upon business; and she"—
"Prefers entertaining our Cethegus, alone in her own house, I fancy," interrupted Fulvia.
"Exactly so," replied Catiline, with a smile of meaning.
"Happy Cethegus," said Arvina.
"Do you think her so handsome?" asked Fulvia, favoring him with one of her most melting glances.
"The handsomest woman," he replied, "with but one exception, I ever had the luck to look upon."
"Indeed!—and pray, who is the exception?" asked the lady, very tartly.
There happened to be lying on a marble slab, near to the place where they were standing, a small round mirror of highly polished steel, set in a frame of tortoiseshell and gold. Paullus had noticed it before she spoke; and taking it up without a moment's pause, he raised it to her face.
"Look!" he said, "look into that, and blush at your question."