e and more exacting. At first he assured Vinicius at each visit that
the affair would proceed easily and quickly; now he began to discover
difficulties, and without ceasing, it is true, to guarantee the
undoubted success of the searches, he did not hide the fact that they
must continue yet for a good while.

At last he came, after long days of waiting, with a face so gloomy that
the young man grew pale at sight of him, and springing up had barely
strength to ask,--"Is she not among the Christians?" "She is, lord,"
answered Chilo; "but I found Glaucus among them." "Of what art thou
speaking, and who is Glaucus?" "Thou hast forgotten, lord, it seems,
that old man with whom I journeyed from Naples to Rome, and in whose
defence I lost these two fingers,--a loss which prevents me from
writing. Robbers, who bore away his wife and child, stabbed him with a
knife. I left him dying at an inn in Minturna, and bewailed him long.
Alas! I have convinced myself that he is alive yet, and belongs in Rome
to the Christian community."

Vinicius, who could not understand what the question was, understood
only that Glaucus was becoming a hindrance to the discovery of Lygia;
hence he suppressed his rising anger, and said,--"If thou didst defend
him, he should be thankful and help thee."

"Ah! worthy tribune, even gods are not always grateful, and what must
the case be with men? True, he should be thankful. But, unhappily, he is
an old man, of a mind weak and darkened by age and disappointment; for
which reason, not only is he not grateful, but, as I learned from his
co-religionists, he accuses me of having conspired with the robbers, and
says that I am the cause of his misfortunes. That is the recompense for
my fingers!"

"Scoundrel! I am certain that it was as he says," replied Vinicius.

"Then thou knowest more than he does, lord, for he only surmises that
it was so; which, however, would not prevent him from summoning the
Christians, and from revenging himself on me cruelly. He would have done
that undoubtedly, and others, with equal certainty, would have helped
him; but fortunately he does not know my name, and in the house of
prayer where we met, he did not notice me. I, however, knew him at once,
and at the first moment wished to throw myself on his neck. Wisdom,
however, and the habit of thinking before every step which I intend to
take, restrained me. Therefore, on issuing from the house of prayer, I
inquired concerning him, an