young guest as though she were her
lost darling, restored to her after a brief absence. First she allowed
the girl to send for Argutis; and when she had assured the faithful
slave that all promised well, she dismissed him with instructions to
await at home his young mistress's orders, for that Melissa would for
the present find shelter under her roof.

When the Gaul had departed, she desired her waiting-woman, Johanna, to
fetch her brother. During her absence the lady explained to Melissa
that they both were Christians. They were freeborn, the children of a
freedman of Berenike's house. Johannes had at an early age shown so
much intelligence that they had acceded to his wish to be educated as a
lawyer. He was now one of the most successful pleaders in the city;
but he always used his eloquence, which he had perfected not only at
Alexandria but also at Carthage, by preference in the service of accused
Christians. In his leisure hours he would visit the condemned in prison,
speak comfort to them, and give them presents out of the fine profits he
derived from his business among the wealthy. He was the very man to
go and see her father and brothers; he would revive their spirits, and
carry them her greeting.

When, presently, the Christian arrived he expressed himself as very
ready to undertake this commission. His sister was already busied in
packing wine and other comforts for the captives-more, no doubt, as
Johannes told Berenike, than the three men could possibly consume,
even if their imprisonment should be a long one. His smile showed how
confidently he counted on the lady's liberality, and Melissa quickly
put her faith in the young Christian, who would have reminded her of
her brother Philip, but that his slight figure was more upright, and
his long hair quite smooth, without a wave or curl. His eyes, above all,
were unlike Philip's; for they looked out on the world with a gaze as
mild as Philip's were keen and inquiring.

Melissa gave him many messages for her father and brothers, and when the
lady Berenike begged him to take care that the portrait of her daughter
was safely carried to the Serapeum, where it was to contribute to
mollify Caesar in the painter's favor, he praised her determination,
and modestly added: "For how long may we call our own any of these
perishable joys? A day, perhaps a year, at most a lustrum. But eternity
is long, and those who, for its sake, forget time and set all their
hopes on ete