ce and intolerant--it
was necessary to the part he was destined to play--it had in it more of
the courage of the martyr than the charity of the saint. It aroused, it
excited, it nerved, rather than subdued and softened. But the whole
heart of that divine old man was bathed in love; the smile of the Deity
had burned away from it the leaven of earthlier and coarser passions,
and left to the energy of the hero all the meekness of the child.

'And now,' said he, rising at length, as the sun's last ray died in the
west; 'now, in the cool of twilight, I pursue my way towards the
Imperial Rome. There yet dwell some holy men, who like me have beheld
the face of Christ; and them would I see before I die.'

'But the night is chill for thine age, my father, and the way is long,
and the robber haunts it; rest thee till to-morrow.'

'Kind son, what is there in this scrip to tempt the robber? And the
Night and the Solitude!--these make the ladder round which angels
cluster, and beneath which my spirit can dream of God. Oh! none can
know what the pilgrim feels as he walks on his holy course; nursing no
fear, and dreading no danger--for God is with him! He hears the winds
murmur glad tidings; the woods sleep in the shadow of Almighty
wings--the stars are the Scriptures of Heaven, the tokens of love, and
the witnesses of immortality. Night is the Pilgrim's day.' With these
words the old man pressed Apaecides to his breast, and taking up his
staff and scrip, the dog bounded cheerily before him, and with slow
steps and downcast eyes he went his way.

The convert stood watching his bended form, till the trees shut the last
glimpse from his view; and then, as the stars broke forth, he woke from
the musings with a start, reminded of his appointment with Olinthus.

Chapter V

THE PHILTRE. ITS EFFECT.

WHEN Glaucus arrived at his own home, he found Nydia seated under the
portico of his garden. In fact, she had sought his house in the mere
chance that he might return at an early hour: anxious, fearful,
anticipative, she resolved upon seizing the earliest opportunity of
availing herself of the love-charm, while at the same time she half
hoped the opportunity might be deferred.

It was then, in that fearful burning mood, her heart beating, her cheek
flushing, that Nydia awaited the possibility of Glaucus's return before
the night. He crossed the portico just as the first stars began to
rise, and the heaven above had assumed