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DEATH IN THE GOBLET 223
nothing, her white cheek looking all the more ghastly from
the crimson roses which circled her dark tresses and fell
twining over her fair neck.
But how should the mirth of the banquet be resumed ?
The stereotyped smile on the features of Seneca looked like
a grin of anguish. The brow of Psetus Thrasea was dark as
a thunder-cloud. Clemens and several of the prince's boyish
friends were weeping audibly and uncontrollably, while Titus,
already feeling ill as well as terrified, was sobbing with his
head on the table. Nero himself in vain attempted a fitful
hilarity, which could wake no echo among guests of whom
many
'
Like the Ithaeensiau suitors of old time,
Stared with great eyes, and laughed with alien lips,
And knew not what they meant."
So dense a cloud fell over their minds that it was a relief to
all when, without waiting for the termination of the banquet,
Nero dismissed his guests, availing himself of the excuse that
the comitial disease had always been regarded as an evil ornen,
and that, though he hoped his brother's attack would prove
but slight, he saw how deeply
it had affected the spirits of his
friends.
They had come to that superb feast in pride and gaiety ;
they hurried home in horror and alarm.