, mules, a litter, and four trusty men selected
among slaves from Britain, whom, to save appearances, he had left at
an inn in the Subura. Vinicius, who had watched all night, went to meet
him. Niger, moved at sight of his youthful master, kissed his hands and
eyes, saying,--

"My dear, thou art ill, or else suffering has sucked the blood from thy
face, for hardly did I know thee at first."

Vinicius took him to the interior colonnade, and there admitted him
to the secret. Niger listened with fixed attention, and on his dry,
sunburnt face great emotion was evident; this he did not even try to
master.

"Then she is a Christian?" exclaimed Niger; and he looked inquiringly
into the face of Vinicius, who divined evidently what the gaze of the
countryman was asking, since he answered,--

"I too am a Christian."

Tears glistened in Niger's eyes that moment. He was silent for a while;
then, raising his hands, he said,--

"I thank Thee, O Christ, for having taken the beam from eyes which are
the dearest on earth to me."

Then he embraced the head of Vinicius, and, weeping from happiness, fell
to kissing his forehead. A moment later, Petronius appeared, bringing
Nazarius.

"Good news!" cried he, while still at a distance.

Indeed, the news was good. First, Glaucus the physician guaranteed
Lygia's life, though she had the same prison fever of which, in the
Tullianum and other dungeons, hundreds of people were dying daily. As
to the guards and the man who tried corpses with red-hot iron, there was
not the least difficulty. Attys, the assistant, was satisfied also.

"We made openings in the coffin to let the sick woman breathe," said
Nazarius. "The only danger is that she may groan or speak as we pass the
pretorians. But she is very weak, and is lying with closed eyes since
early morning. Besides, Glaucus will give her a sleeping draught
prepared by himself from drugs brought by me purposely from the city.
The cover will not be nailed to the coffin; ye will raise it easily and
take the patient to the litter. We will place in the coffin a long bag
of sand, which ye will provide."

Vinicius, while hearing these words, was as pale as linen; but he
listened with such attention that he seemed to divine at a glance what
Nazarius had to say.

"Will they carry out other bodies from the prison?" inquired Petronius.

"About twenty died last night, and before evening more will be dead,"
said the youth. "We must go with a whol