cted to see, and,
greeting them with a radiant face, spoke with hurried voice, like a
man who has no time to spare,--"Hast thou come? I know not how to thank
thee, O Lygia! God could not have sent me a better omen. I greet thee
even while taking farewell, but not farewell for a long time. On the
road I shall dispose relays of horses, and every free day I shall come
to thee till I get leave to return.--Farewell!"

"Farewell, Marcus!" answered Lygia; then she added in a lower voice:
"May Christ go with thee, and open thy soul to Paul's word."

He was glad at heart that she was concerned about his becoming a
Christian soon; hence he answered,--

"Ocelle mi! let it be as thou sayest. Paul prefers to travel with my
people, but he is with me, and will be to me a companion and master.
Draw aside thy veil, my delight, let me see thee before my journey. Why
art thou thus hidden?"

She raised the veil, and showed him her bright face and her wonderfully
smiling eyes, inquiring,--

"Is the veil bad?"

And her smile had in it a little of maiden opposition; but Vinicius,
while looking at her with delight, answered,--

"Bad for my eyes, which till death would look on thee only."

Then he turned to Ursus and said,--

"Ursus, guard her as the sight in thy eye, for she is my domina as well
as thine."

Seizing her hand then, he pressed it with his lips, to the great
astonishment of the crowd, who could not understand signs of such honor
from a brilliant Augustian to a maiden arrayed in simple garments,
almost those of a slave.

"Farewell!"

Then he departed quickly, for Caesar's whole retinue had pushed forward
considerably. The Apostle Peter blessed him with a slight sign of the
cross; but the kindly Ursus began at once to glorify him, glad that
his young mistress listened eagerly and was grateful to him for those
praises.

The retinue moved on and hid itself in clouds of golden dust; they gazed
long after it, however, till Demas the miller approached, he for whom
Ursus worked in the night-time. When he had kissed the Apostle's hand,
he entreated them to enter his dwelling for refreshment, saying that it
was near the Emporium, that they must be hungry and wearied since they
had spent the greater part of the day at the gate.

They went with him, and, after rest and refreshment in his house,
returned to the Trans-Tiber only toward evening. Intending to cross the
river by the AEmilian bridge, they passed through the Clivu