d
self. On behalf of Apollinaris, too, I beg you to pardon the rudeness
which we offered to this maiden--"

"I am not angry with you any more," cried Melissa, eagerly and frankly,
and the tribune thanked her in his own and his brother's name.

He began trying to explain the unfortunate occurrence, but Berenike
admonished him to lose no time. The soldier withdrew, and the lady
Berenike ordered her handmaiden to call the housekeeper and other
serving-women. Then she repaired quickly to the room she had destined for
the wounded man and his brother. But neither Melissa nor the other women
could succeed in really lending her any help, for she herself put forth
all her cleverness and power of head and hand, forgetting nothing that
might be useful or agreeable in the nursing of the sick. In that wealthy,
well-ordered house everything stood ready to hand; and in less than a
quarter of an hour the tribune Nemesianus was informed that the chamber
was ready for the reception of his brother.

The lady then returned with Melissa to her own sleeping apartment, and
took various little bottles and jars from a small medicine-chest, begging
the girl at the same time to excuse her, as she intended to undertake the
nursing of the wounded man herself. Here were books, and there Korinna's
lute. Johanna would attend to the evening meal. Tomorrow morning they
could consult further as to what was necessary to be done; then she
kissed her guest and left the room.

Left to herself, Melissa gave herself up to varying thoughts, till
Johanna brought her repast. While she hardly nibbled at it, the Christian
told her that matters looked ill with the tribune, and that the wound in
the forehead especially caused the physician much anxiety. Many questions
were needed to draw this much from the freedwoman, for she spoke but
little. When she did speak, however, it was with great kindliness, and
there lay something so simple and gentle in her whole manner that it
awakened confidence. Having satisfied her appetite, Melissa returned to
the lady Berenike's apartment; but there her heart grew heavy at the
thought of what awaited her on the morrow. When, at the moment of
leaving, Johanna inquired whether she desired anything further, she asked
her if she knew a saying of her fellow-believers, which ran, "The
fullness of time was come."

"Yes, surely," returned the other; "our Lord himself spoke them, and Paul
wrote them to the Galatians."

"Who is this Pa