rasp her hand
and implore her only once to grant his wish; but she was always firm,
only she never sent him away sternly but with smiles and friendly
admonitions. When he brought rare and lovely flowers in his pallium and
entreated her to give them to Selene in the name of her friend at
Lochias, she would take them and promise to place them in her room; but
she always said it would do neither him nor her any good at all that
Selene should know from whom they came. After such repulses he well knew
how to flatter and coax her with appealing words, but he had never dared
to defy her or to gain his end by force. When the flowers were placed in
the room Mary looked at them much oftener than Selene did, and when
Antinous had been long absent the deformed girl longed to see him again,
and would pace restlessly up and down between the garden gate and her
friend's little house. She, like him, dreamed of an angel, and the angel
of whom she dreamed was exactly like himself. In all her prayers she
included the name of the handsome heathen and a soft tenderness in which
a gentle pity was often infused, a grief for his unredeemed soul, was
inseparable from all her thoughts of him.

Hannah was informed by her of each of the young man's visits, and as
often as Mary mentioned Antinous the deaconess seemed anxious and desired
her to threaten to call the gate-keeper to him. The widow knew full well
who her patient's indefatigable admirer was, for she had once heard him
speaking to Mastor, and she had asked the slave, who availed himself of
every spare moment to attend the services of the Christians, who the lad
was. All Alexandria, nay all the Empire, knew the name of the most
beautiful youth of his time, the spoilt favorite of Caesar. Even Hannah
had heard of him and knew that poets sang his praises and heathen women
were eager to obtain a glance from his eyes. She knew how devoid of all
morality were the lives of the nobles at Rome, and Antinous appeared to
her as a splendid falcon that wheels above a dove to swoop down upon it
at a favorable moment and to tear it in its beak and talons. Hannah also
knew that Selene was acquainted with Antinous, that it was he who had
formerly rescued her from the big dog and afterward saved her from the
water; but that Selene, who was now recovering, did not know who her
preserver had been on this second occasion was clear from all that she
said.

Towards the end of February Antinous had come on three