e of the convent. His familiar
knowledge of Greek led to his appointment as instructor in that language
of the young acolytes and deacons who were in training for the office of
the ministry. At length his superior gifts and fervent piety led to his
own ordination as a presbyter of the Church of Milan.

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FOOTNOTES:

[30] This office was possibly derived from the synagogue. As requiring
good scholarship it was one of much honour, and was even sought by
laymen. The Emperor Julian, in his youth, and his brother Gallus, were
readers in the Church of Nicomedia. Many epitaphs of readers occur in
the Catacombs.

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CHAPTER XIII.

FATHER AND DAUGHTER.

Demetrius was now eager to set out for Rome to behold once more the
child whom he had scarce hoped ever to see again. A happy leave-taking
of the brethren of Milan, who rejoiced in fraternal sympathy, followed;
and on a gently ambling mule, at break of day, the old man rode forth
beside the gallantly equipped Isidorus. He beguiled the weary way with
questions about his long-lost daughter, as to her growth, appearance,
her apparent health, and even the very garb she wore. He was never tired
hearing about her, and recounting incidents of her childhood and youth.
The only shadow upon his joy was the vague mystery concerning the fate
of his son. But he said cheerfully: "God is good. He has restored to me
one of my children. I feel confident that in His own good time He will
restore also the other."

Beneath the fatigue of the long journey of nearly three hundred miles
his powers would have failed, had he not been inspirited and sustained
by the thrilling anticipation of beholding once more his beloved child.

At length, near sunset, on the tenth day, they drew near the great
metropolis of the Empire. Clearer and clearer to the view rose the
seven-hilled city's pride, the snowy marble peristyles and pediments of
palace and temple, gleaming in the rosy light like transparent
alabaster. To the left rose the cliff-like walls of the Colosseum, even
then venerable with the time-stains of over two hundred years. In the
foreground stretched the long Aurelian Wall, with its towers and
battlements and strong arched gates. They crossed the Tiber by the
Milvian Bridge, built three hundred years before, and destined to
witness within ten years that fierce struggle for the mastery of the
empire, between Constantine and Maxentius, when the British-born