II. GURTA 256
XXIV. A MOTHER'S BLESSING 266
XXV. CALLISTA IN DURANCE 274
XXVI. WHAT CAN IT ALL MEAN? 281
XXVII. AM I A CHRISTIAN? 291
XXVIII. A SICK CALL 305
XXIX. CONVERSION 317
XXX. TORRES VEDRAS 329
XXXI. THE BAPTISM 343
XXXII. THE IMPERIAL RESCRIPT 352
XXXIII. A GOOD CONFESSION 357
XXXIV. THE MARTYRDOM 366
XXXV. THE CORPO SANTO 371
XXXVI. LUX PERPETUA SANCTIS TUIS, DOMINE 377

CALLISTA;

A TALE OF THE THIRD CENTURY.

CHAPTER I.

SICCA VENERIA.

In no province of the vast Roman empire, as it existed in the middle of
the third century, did Nature wear a richer or a more joyous garb than she
displayed in Proconsular Africa, a territory of which Carthage was the
metropolis, and Sicca might be considered the centre. The latter city,
which was the seat of a Roman colony, lay upon a precipitous or steep
bank, which led up along a chain of hills to a mountainous track in the
direction of the north and east. In striking contrast with this wild and
barren region was the view presented by the west and south, where for many
miles stretched a smiling champaign, exuberantly wooded, and varied with a
thousand hues, till it was terminated at length by the successive tiers of
the Atlas, and the dim and fantastic forms of the Numidian mountains. The
immediate neighbourhood of the city was occupied by gardens, vineyards,
corn-fields, and meadows, crossed or encircled here by noble avenues of
trees or the remains of primeval forests, there by the clustering groves
which wealth and luxury had created. This spacious plain, though level
when compared with the northern heights by which the city was backed, and
the peaks and crags which skirted the southern and western horizon, was
discovered, as light an