hear all the latest gossip, and complain of her little ailments when
anything went wrong with her usually sound health. Philippus was indeed
too much overburdened to chatter, but his professional advice was good
and helped her to endure the fires of this pitiless sky. She liked this
incisive, shrewd, plain-spoken man--often indeed sharp and abrupt in
his freedom--and he appreciated her bright, natural ways. Now and then
Martina even succeeded in winning a smile from "Hermes Trismegistus,"
who was "generally as solemn as though there was no such thing on earth
as a jest," and in spurring him to a rejoinder which showed that this
dolorous being had a particularly keen and ready wit.

Heliodora attracted him but little. There was, to be sure, an
unmistakable likeness in her "imploring eyes" to those of Pulcheria; but
the girl's spoke fervent yearning for the grace and love of God, while
the widow's expressed an eager desire for the admiration of the men she
preferred. She was a graceful creature beyond all question, but such
softness, which never even attempted to assert a purpose or an opinion,
did not commend itself to his determined nature; it annoyed him, when he
had contradicted her, to hear her repeat his last statement and take his
side, as if she were ashamed of her own silliness. Her society, indeed,
did not seem to satisfy the clever older woman, who at home, was
accustomed to a succession of visitors, and to whom the word "evening"
was synonymous with lively conversation and a large gathering. She spoke
of the leech's visits as the oasis in the Egyptian desert, and little
Katharina even she regarded as a Godsend.

The water-wagtail was her daily visitant, and the girl's gay and
often spiteful gossip helped to beguile her during this terrific heat.
Katharina's mother made no difficulties; for Heliodora had gone to
see her in all her magnificence, and had offered her and her daughter
hospitality, some day, at Constantinople. They were very likely going
thither; at any rate they would not remain in Memphis, and then it
would be a piece of good fortune to be introduced to the society of the
capital by such people as their new acquaintances.

Martina thus heard a great deal about Paula; and though it was all
adverse and colored to her prejudice she would have liked to see the
daughter of the great and famous Thomas whom she had known; besides,
after all she had heard, she could fear nothing from Paula for her
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