WHAT BECOMES OF IONE IN THE HOUSE OF ARBACES THE FIRST SIGNAL OF THE WRATH OF THE DREAD FOE

WHEN Ione entered the spacious hall of the Egyptian, the same awe which had crept over her brother impressed itself also upon her: there seemed to her as to him something ominous and warning in the still and mournful faces of those dread Theban monsters, whose majestic and passionless features the marble so well portrayed:

'Their look, with the reach of past ages, was wise,

And the soul of eternity thought in their eyes.

The tall thiopian slave grinned as he admitted her and motioned to her to proceed. Half-way up the hall she was met by Arbaces himself, in festive robes which glittered with jewels. Although it was broad day without, the mansion, according to the practice of the luxurious, was artificially darkened, and the lamps cast their still and odor-giving light over the rich floors and ivory roofs.

Beautiful Ione," said Arbaces, as he bent to touch her hand, " it is you that have eclipsed the day it is your eyes that light up the halls it is your breath which fills them with perfumes."

" You must not talk to me thus," said Ione, smiling; "you forget that your lore has sufficiently instructed my mind to render these graceful flatteries to my person unwelcome It was you who taught me to disdain adulation; will you unteach your pupil?"

There was something so frank and charming in the manner of Ione, as she thus spoke, that the Egyptian was more than ever enamoured, and more than ever disposed to renew the offence he had committed; he, however, answered quickly and gayly, and hastened to renew the conversation.

He led her through the various chambers of the house, which seemed to contain to her eyes, inexperienced to other splendor than the minute elegance of Campanian cities, the treasures of the world.

In the walls were set pictures of inestimable art, the lights shone over statues of the noblest age of Greece. Cabinets of gems, each cabinet itself a gem, filled up the interstices of the columns; the most precious woods lined the thresholds and composed the doors; gold and jewels seemed lavished all around. Sometimes they were alone in these rooms--sometimes they passed through silent rows of slaves, who, kneeling as she passed, proffered to her offerings of bracelets, of chains, of gems, which the Egyptian vainly entreated her to receive.

"I have often heard," said she, wonderingly, that you were rich; but I never dreamed of the amount of your wealth."

Would I could coin it all," replied the Egyptian, " into one crown, which I might place upon that snowy brow!" Alas! the weight would crush me; I should be a second Tarpeia," answered Ione, laughingly.

But thou dost not disdain riches, 0 Ione! they know not what life is capable of who are not wealthy. Gold is the great magician of earth it realizes our dreams--it gives them the power of a god there is a grandeur, a sublimity in its possession, it is the mightiest, yet the most obedient of our slaves."

The artful Arbaces sought to dazzle the young Neapolitan by his treasures and his eloquence; he sought to awaken in her the desire to be mistress of what she surveyed; he hoped that she would confound the owner with the possessions, and that the charms of his wealth would be reflected on himself. Meanwhile, Ione was secretly somewhat uneasy at the gallantries which escaped from those lips, which, till lately, had seemed to disdain the common homage we pay to beauty; and with that delicate subtlety, which woman alone possesses, she sought to ward off shafts deliberately aimed,and to laugh or to talk away the meaning from his warming language. Nothing, in the world is more pretty than that same species of defence; it is the charm of the African necromancer who professed with a feather to turn aside the winds.

The Egyptian was intoxicated and subdued by her grace even more than by her beauty; it was with difficulty that he suppressed his emotions; alas! the feather was only powerful against the summer breezes--would be the sport of the storm.

Suddenly, as they stood in one hall, which was surrounded by draperies of silver and white, the Egyptian clapped his hands, and, as if by enchantment, a banquet rose from the floor a couch or throne, with a crimson canopy, ascended simultaneously, at the feet of Ione--and at the same instant from behind the curtains swelled the invisible and softest music.

Arbaces placed himself at the feet of Ione, and children, young and beautiful as Loves, ministered to the feast. The feast was over, the music sank into a low and subdued strain, and Arbaces thus addressed his beautiful guest:

Hast thou never in this dark and uncertain world hast thou never aspired, my pupil, to look beyond--hast thou never wished to put aside the veil of futurity, and to behold on the shores of Fate the shadowy images of things to be? For it is not the past alone that has its ghosts; each event to come has also its spectrum its shade; when the hour arrives, life enters it, the shadow becomes corporeal, and walks the world. Thus, in the land beyond the grave, are ever two impalpable and spiritual hosts--the things to be, the things that have been! If by our wisdom we can penetrate that land, we see the one as the other, and learn, as I have learned, not alone the mysteries of the dead, but also the destiny of the living."

As thou hast learned! Can wisdom attain so far?"

"Wilt thou prove my knowledge, Ione, and behold the representation of thine own fate ? It is a drama more striking than those of schylus; it is one I have prepared for thee, if thou wilt see the shadows perform their part."

The Neapolitan trembled; she thought of Glaucus, and sighed as well as trembled ; were their destinies to be united? Half-incredulous, half-believing, half-awed, half-alarmed by the words of her strange host, she remained for some moments silent, and then answered:

It may revolt it may terrify; the knowledge of the future will perhaps only embitter the present!"

Not so, Ione. I have myself looked upon thy future lot, and the ghosts of thy Future bask in the gardens of Elysium; amid the asphodel and the rose they prepare garlands of thy sweet destiny, and the Fates, so harsh to others, weave only for thee the web of happiness and love. Wilt thou then come and behold thy doom, so that thou mayest enjoy it beforehand?"

Again the heart of Ione murmured Glaucus ;' she uttered a half-audible assent ; the Egyptian rose, and taking her by the hand, he led her across the banquet room the curtains withdrew, as by magic hands, and the music broke forth in a louder and gladder strain ; they passed a row of columns, on either side of which fountains cast aloft their fragrant waters ; they descended by broad and easy steps into the garden. The eve had commenced; the moon was already high in heaven, and those sweet flowers that sleep by day, and fill, with ineffable odors, the thickly of night, were thickly scattered amid alleys cut through the star-lit foliage ; or, gathered in baskets, lay like offerings at the feet of the frequent statues that gleamed along their path.

" Whither wouldst thou lead me, Arbaces ?" said Ione, wonderingly.

But yonder," said he, pointing to a small building which stood at the end of the vista. "It is a temple consecrated to the Fates our rites require such holy ground."

They passed into a narrow hall, at the end of which hung a sable curtain. Arbaces lifted it; Ione entered, and found herself in total darkness.

Be not alarmed," said the Egyptian, " the light will rise instantly." While he so spoke, a soft, and warm, and gradual light diffused itself around; as it spread over each object, Ione perceived that she was in an apartment of moderate size, hung everywhere with black; a couch with draperies of the same line was beside her. In the center of the room was a small altar, on which stood a tripod of bronze. At one side, upon a lofty column of granite, was a colossal head of the blackest marble, which she perceived, by the crown of wheat-ears that encircled the brow, represented the great Egyptian goddess. Arbaces stood before the altar: he had laid his garland on the shrine, and seemed occupied with pouring into the tripod the contents of a brazen vase; suddenly from that tripod leaped into life a blue, quick, darting, irregular flame ; the Egyptian drew back to the side of Ione, and muttered sonic words in a language unfamiliar to her ear; the curtain at the back of the altar waved tremulously to and fro it parted slowly, and in the aperture which was thus made, Ione beheld an indistinct and pale landscape, which gradually grew brighter and clearer as she gazed; at length she discovered plainly trees, and rivers, and meadows, and all the beautiful diversity of the richest earth. At length, before the landscape, a dim shadow glided; it rested opposite to Ione; slowly the same charm seemed to operate upon it as over the rest of the scene ; it took form and shape, and lo! in its feature and in its form Ione beheld herself !

Then the scene behind the specter faded away, and was succeeded by the representation of a gorgeous palace ; a throne was raised in the center of its hall the dim forms of slaves and guards were ranged round it, and a pale hand held over the throne the likeness of a diadem.

A new actor now appeared ; he was clothed from head to foot in a dark robe his face was concealed he knelt at the feet of the shadowy Ione he clasped her hand he pointed to the throne, as if to invite her to ascend it.

The Neapolitan's heart beat violently. Shall the shadow disclose itself ?" whispered a voice beside her the voice of Arbaces.

Ah, yes!" answered Ione softly.

Arbaces raised his hand the specter seemed to drop the mantle that concealed its form and Ione shrieked it was Arbaces himself that thus knelt before her.

This is, indeed, thy fate!" whispered again the Egyptian's voice in her ear, "And thou art destined to be the bride of Arbaces."

Ione started the black curtain closed over the phantasmagoria : and Arbaces himself the real, the living Arbaces was at her feet.