ot to be allowed to see his children till the
leech should give leave, and the unfortunate man could not get over his
surprise and emotion at finding in his new home not only a work-table,
with tools, wax, and stones, but several cages full of birds, and among
these feathered friends a starling. His faithful and now freed slave,
Argutis, had, by Polybius's orders, supplied everything needful; but
the birds were a thought of the Christian girl Agatha. All this was a
consolation in his grief, and when the gem-cutter was alone with old
Dido he burst into sobs. The slave woman followed his example, but he
stopped her with loud, harsh scolding. At first she was frightened; but
then she exclaimed with delight from the very bottom of her faithful
heart, "The gods be praised!" and from the moment when he could storm,
she always declared, Heron's recovery began.

........................

The sun was setting when Andreas made his way to Zeno's house--a long,
white-washed building.

The road led through a palm-grove on the Christian's estate. His anxiety
to see the beloved sufferers urged him forward so quickly that he
presently overtook another man who was walking in the same direction in
the cool of the evening. This was Ptolemaeus, the physician.

He greeted Andreas with cheerful kindness, and the freedman knew what he
meant when, without waiting to be asked, he said:

"We are out of the wood now; the fever has passed away. The delirious
fancies have left her, and since noon she has slept. When I quitted her
an hour ago she was sleeping soundly and quietly. Till now the shaken
soul has been living in a dream; but now that the fever has passed
away, she will soon be herself again. As yet she has recognized no one;
neither Agatha nor the lady Euryale; not even Diodoros, whom I allowed
to look at her yesterday for a moment. We have taken her away from the
large house in the garden, on account of the children, to the little
villa opposite the place of worship. It is quiet there, and the air
blows in on her through the open veranda. The Empress herself could not
wish for a better sick-room. And the care Agatha takes of her! You are
right to hasten. The last glimmer of sunshine is extinct, and divine
service will soon begin. I am satisfied with Diodoros too; youth is a
soil on which the physician reaps easy laurels. What will it not heal
and strengthen! Only when the soul is so deeply shaken, as with Melissa
and her brot