Yet, even the thought was disloyal and unmaidenly. She dismissed it.
The merriment was at its height, and Aurelius began to feel that
Virgilia would not suffer much from this necessary solution of a
difficult problem, when the curtain of Persian silk at the door was
suddenly torn aside and the Old One entered.
Very slowly, leaning on her staff, bowed half over, and with white
hair streaming down to her shoulders, she approached the table.
Claudia screamed when she saw her and the Senator trembled. People
were very superstitious in those days, and the Old One was known to be
a prophetess.
Aurelius left his place.
"What dost thou desire, Mother?" he asked.
She lifted to him eyes filled with a strange light. The gray mantle
she wore fell away from her skinny arm as she raised it high.
"Woe! woe to the house of Lucanus!" she cried shrilly. "Your feasting
shall be turned into sorrow, your rejoicing shall be changed into
mourning and the voice of weeping shall be heard, a mother weeping for
her daughter, a father bemoaning the loss of his children, a
bridegroom grieving over a lost bride.
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