Page:Stories after Nature.pdf/31

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JULIA AND LYSIUS.
7

being herself perceived. It happened, that one morning, Julia being present, a man in tattered apparel, with a staff in his hand, and like a beggar, was brought before them on the charge of murder. No one knew aught of him, or who he was, nor would he describe himself; but Julia's sense was quick, and she knew him to be Lysius: and holding her forehead for some minutes, she departed from the court.

Lysius having come to his estate, had joined the noisy and luxurious youth of Athens; and never thinking that wells may be drawn dry, he went on scattering his money on one worthless banquet and another, till his lands were gaged, his coffers empty, and he obliged to fly for fear of imprisonment for heavy debts. And here he stood, in this deplorable condition, before Julia's father, to answer to the crime of murder. Although he avowed his innocence, yet circumstances were so clear against him, and fortune was so much his enemy, that every body adjudged him guilty, and he was doomed to death at the sunset of that day. Now when Julia left the court, she beat with her hand upon her heart, and, collecting all her firmness, went into the garden and gathered berries, with which she dyed her face and neck; and tying her hair in knots, and clothing herself in ragged apparel like