Virgilia | Page 7

familiar to all,
owing to the valuable services rendered by her illustrious husband to
the State, that the people crowded the steps of the Law Courts to watch
Octavia and her daughter Hermione descend.
They drew their veils closely, but a murmur of admiration arose as
Hermione's veil slipped aside and revealed cheeks of cream and rose,
eyes inherited from some northern hero, of deep violet blue, and hair,
arranged in ringlets, in the style of the age, of a red-brown tint.
Hastily, the two ladies passed into the dark corridors of the court, and
were soon admitted to the private office of Aurelius Lucanus. Two
attendants, who had walked behind the chair all the way from the Villa
to guard their mistress and her daughter, waited in the ante-chamber

with Alyrus, whose duty it was to remain here until the lawyer's day of
work was over.
The Roman welcomed Octavia with much ceremony. He bowed to
Hermione, who threw back her veil and greeted Martius as an old
friend.
While her mother explained the matter of business to her trusted lawyer,
Hermione and Martius withdrew to the other side of the room and sat
down side by side on an ivory and ebony bench in the window. High
above them was Caesar's Palace, white and glistening in the September
sunshine. Sweet scents from the imperial gardens came to them, but
sweeter yet, in its innocence and freshness was the face of the young
girl.
"Thou hast been long absent, Martius?" she said, while she twirled in
her fingers a tea-rose, large and fragrant.
"Half a year, Hermione."
"And hast never wanted to see Rome? Was it so lovely in those far-off
Eastern lands that thou couldst forget thy home and thy friends?"
"Not so. But it was not possible for me to return. My heart yearned for
Rome. There is no place like her in all the world, in the whole Roman
Empire," he said, proudly.
"Was it thy business kept thee?" Then fearing lest she might be asking
too much, Hermione blushed. Martius thought that the rich color
flooding her cheek was in tint like that of a wondrous rose he had seen
on the Isle of Cyprus, where his ship had touched in the journey toward
Asia Minor. "Do not answer if it is not my right to know," she added,
hastily. "I thought,--we are old friends--"
Martius was silent. He had heard that Octavia was a Christian, while
her husband was not. He did not know whether Hermione followed the
religion of her father or her mother. They had never talked on these
matters. Christians, while exceedingly courageous where their
principles were involved, did not run useless risks. There was always
danger.
He drew from his tunic a small wax-tablet, and with the ivory stylus,
began, carelessly, to scribble on it, as if he had not noticed her question,
or as she might readily infer, did not wish to reply.
Hermione, slightly embarrassed and annoyed, watched him idly
drawing. Then her breath came quickly and her face glowed. He was

drawing, in the midst of other designs, a fish; little by little, it became
plain.
Under her breath, she said: "I, too, am a Little Fish."
There was a sudden clasping of hands, as Martius looked frankly into
her eyes.
"I was sent away," he explained, after assuring himself that his father
and Octavia were still busy discussing the case. "Sent away because I
learned to believe in Christ. My step-mother would not have me at
home. She hates the Christians, and my father yielded to her, though,
personally, he is indifferent and says that everyone has a right to
believe what he pleases."
"Why didst thou return? Is thy step-mother satisfied?" Hermione asked
eagerly.
"Only a few weeks ago. My father's wife has been very ill. She is only
now convalescing. All depends on the attitude she takes. I must wait.
And in the meantime, I am preparing to be a lawyer, like my father. If I
can stay in Rome, I shall be very happy. If not, I shall go to one of the
distant provinces."
"O, I hope not!" she exclaimed.
Martius smiled at her.
"I hope not, too," he replied.
"There is another complication," Martius continued, after a pause. "The
real cause of my stepmother's illness was Virgilia's declaration that she,
too, has adopted the Christian faith. Where she heard about it, further
than the things I taught her, I do not know. Thou seest, that the matter
is very complicated."
"And dangerous. Dost thou not know that there has been talk in the
Senate about the constantly increasing number of Christians in Rome
and in the Empire? It is growing, this religion of Jesus Christ."
"Thanks be to His name," said Martius.
"Amen.