ve."
Martina, with a heart as good as gold, had never made any pretensions to
beauty, but had nevertheless been much courted. This worthy couple had
for many years thought that nothing could be more delightful than a
residence in the capital, or at their beautiful villa on the Bosphorus,
scorning to follow the example of other rich and fashionable folks, and
go to take baths or make journeys. It was enough for them to be able
to make others happy under their roof; and there was never any lack of
visitors, just because those who were weary of bending their backs
at the Byzantine Court, found this unceremonious circle particularly
restful.

Martina was especially fond of having young people about her, and
Heliodora, the widow of her nephew, had found comfort with her in her
trouble; it was in her house that Orion and Heliodora had met. The young
widow was a great favorite with the old couple, but higher in their
esteem even than she, had been the younger brother of her deceased
husband. He was to have been their heir; but they had mourned his death
now two years; for news had reached them that Narses, who had served in
the Imperial army as tribune of cavalry, had fallen in battle against
the infidels. No one, however, had ever brought a more exact report of
his death; and at last their indefatigable enquiries had resulted in
their learning that he had been taken prisoner by the Saracens and
carried into slavery in Arabia. This report received confirmation
through the efforts of Orion and his deceased father. Within a few hours
of the young Egyptian's departure, they received a letter from the youth
they had given up for lost, written in trembling characters, in which he
implored them to effect his deliverance through Amru, the Arab governor
of Egypt. The old people had set forth at once on their pilgrimage, and
Heliodora had done her part in urging them to this step. Her passion for
Orion, to whom, for more than a year, her gentle heart had been wholly
devoted, had increased every hour since his departure. She had not
concealed it from Martina, who thought it no less than her duty to stand
by the poor lovesick child; for Heliodora had nursed her husband, the
senator's nephew, to the end, with touching fidelity and care; and
besides, Martina had given the young Egyptian--with whom she was "quite
in love herself"--every opportunity of paying his addresses to the young
widow.

They were a pair that seemed made for each oth