and may every drachma which I take from
the plunder here bring ill-luck with it! Call the accident that has kept
you out of this despicable work a stroke of good fortune, but beware how
you look down upon those whose oath forces them to crush out every
human feeling from their hearts! The soldier who takes part with his
commander's enemy--"

He was interrupted by the entrance of Johanna, the Christian, who
saluted the legate, and then stood confused and embarrassed by the side
of Apollinaris's bed. The furtive glance she cast first at the side-room
and then at Nemesianus did not pass unobserved by the quick eye of the
commander, and with soldierly firmness he insisted on knowing what was
concealed behind that door.

"An unfortunate man," was Apollinaris's answer.

"Seleukus, the master of this house?" asked Quintus Flavius, sternly.

"No," replied Nemesianus. "It is only a poor, wounded painter. And
yet--the praetorians will go through fire and water for you, if you
deliver up this man to them as their booty. But if you are what I hold
you to be--"

"The opinion of hot-headed boys is of as little consequence to me as the
favor of my subordinates," interposed the commander. "Whatever my con
science tells me is right, I shall do. Quick, now! Who is in there?"

"The brother of the maiden for whose sake Caesar--" stammered the
wounded man.

"The maiden whom you have to thank for that disfigured face?" cried the
legate. "You are true Aurelians, you boys; and, though you may doubt
whether I am the man you take me for, I confess with pleasure that you
are exactly as I would wish to have you. The praetorians have slain your
friend and servant; I give you that man to make amends for it."

With deep emotion Nemesianus seized his old friend's hands, and
Apollinaris spoke words of gratitude to him from his couch. The officer
would not listen to their thanks, and walked toward the door; but
Johanna stood before him, and entreated him to allow the twins, whose
servant had been killed, to take another, from whom they need have
no fear of treachery. He had been captured in the impluvium by the
praetorians while trying, in the face of every danger, to enter the
house where the painter lay, to whose father he had belonged for many
years. He would be able to tend both Apollinaris and Melissa's brother,
and make it possible to keep Alexander's hiding-place a secret. The
soldiery would be certain to penetrate as far as this, and ot