"
"So!" Philadelphus exclaimed.
There was such well-assumed astonishment in the exclamation that she
raised her eyes quickly to his face. There was another expression
there; one wholly incredulous.
"Now did I in the profligacy of mine extreme youth marry two
Laodices?" he said. "For another Laodice, wife to me, joined me some
days since."
Laodice gazed at him without comprehending.
"I say," he repeated, "that my wife Laodice joined me some time ago."
"Why, I--I am Laodice, daughter to Costobarus, and thy wife!" she
exclaimed, while her eyes fixed upon him the full force of her
astonishment.
He turned to Amaryllis.
"What labyrinth is this, O my friend," he asked, "in which thou hast
set my feet?"
"I do not know," Amaryllis laughed suddenly. "Call the princess."
Philadelphus summoned a servant and instructed her to bring his wife.
For a short space the three did not speak, though Laodice's lips
parted and she stroked her forehead in a bewildered way.
Then Salome, late actress in the theaters at Ephesus, came into the
hall. Amaryllis bowed to her and the impostor gave her a chair. He
turned to Laodice and with the faintest shadow of a grimace motioned
toward the new-comer.
"This," he said, "is Laodice, daughter of Costobarus."
Laodice blazed at the insolent beauty who stared at her with curious
eyes.
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