followed them in the
clear night, and when they reached the cottage of Nereus at last, he
threw himself suddenly at the feet of the Apostle.

"What dost thou wish, my Son?" asked Peter, recognizing him.

After what he had heard in the vineyard, Vinicius dared not implore him
for anything; but, embracing his feet with both hands, he pressed his
forehead to them with sobbing, and called for compassion in that dumb
manner.

"I know. They took the maiden whom thou lovest. Pray for her."

"Lord," groaned Vinicius, embracing his feet still more firmly,--"Lord,
I am a wretched worm; but thou didst know Christ. Implore Him,--take her
part."

And from pain he trembled like a leaf; and he beat the earth with his
forehead, for, knowing the strength of the Apostle, he knew that he
alone could rescue her.

Peter was moved by that pain. He remembered how on a time Lygia herself,
when attacked by Crispus, lay at his feet in like manner imploring pity.
He remembered that he had raised her and comforted her; hence now he
raised Vinicius.

"My son," said he, "I will pray for her; but do thou remember that I
told those doubting ones that God Himself passed through the torment of
the cross, and remember that after this life begins another,--an eternal
one."

"I know; I have heard!" answered Vinicius, catching the air with his
pale lips; "but thou seest, lord, that I cannot! If blood is required,
implore Christ to take mine,--I am a soldier. Let Him double, let Him
triple, the torment intended for her, I will suffer it; but let Him
spare her. She is a child yet, and He is mightier than Caesar, I believe,
mightier. Thou didst love her thyself; thou didst bless us. She is an
innocent child yet."

Again he bowed, and, putting his face to Peter's knees, he repeated,--

"Thou didst know Christ, lord,--thou didst know Him. He will give ear to
thee; take her part."

Peter closed his lids, and prayed earnestly. The summer lightning
illuminated the sky again. Vinicius, by the light of it, looked at the
lips of the Apostle, waiting sentence of life or death from them. In the
silence quails were heard calling in the vineyard, and the dull, distant
sound of treadmills near the Via Salaria.

"Vinicius," asked the Apostle at last, "dost thou believe?"

"Would I have come hither if I believed not?" answered Vinicius.

"Then believe to the end, for faith will remove mountains. Hence, though
thou wert to see that maiden under the sword of