Virgilia | Page 8

But with the growth comes peril and perhaps death. We may
have to bear witness for our faith before very long. My mother has been
warned but feels no fear. She says that where other martyrs have gone,
we can go. She is very brave."
"He giveth strength in time of need. We must wait and trust."
Hermione stretched out her hand to him and he grasped it warmly in his
strong one. They were destined to be firm, true friends, these two

young Christians who faced an unknown and dangerous future.
Octavia arose.
"Come, Hermione," she said, "we must be going."
The lawyer rang a small silver bell on his desk, and Alyrus appeared at
the door.
"See that the Lady Octavia's chair is ready."
The Moor vanished.
"And now, my lady, I trust that you will not be at all anxious about this
matter. I will attend to it."
"I thank you. Greetings to your wife, and we hope to see you both soon
at our Villa. The grapes are almost ready for the gathering. My children
are counting much on the festivities for the Vendemmia. Can you not
come at that time, you and Claudia, with your son and daughter. It will
delight Hermione and Marcus. I will send a messenger to remind you
again before the Feast of the Grapes."
"Claudia has been very ill, my lady. I fear that she could not bear the
motion of the chair so soon. But I will tell her of your gentle bidding to
the feast, when the God Bacchus is adored with so much mirth."
A cloud crossed Octavia's face.
"The God Bacchus--" she began, but stopped. The warning she had
received but a few days before from a Christian high in the service of
the Emperor, rang in her ears. "We must be courageous, Octavia," he
had said, "but we must not be foolish."
"If you permit, we will send Martius and Virgilia to represent us at the
feast," added Aurelius.
"With pleasure. I will send a messenger before the day."
The lawyer and Martius bowed low, and the two ladies, who were
carefully veiled went out on the portico. Aurelius Lucanus assisted
them into the luxurious chair and he and Martius stood watching them
as the four tall bearers carried them away, followed by two stalwart
men. It had been a marvel to certain circles of Roman society that
Octavia had freed all her slaves, men and women, after the death of
Aureus. It was some business connected with this unusual matter that
had brought her to the lawyer's office today.
Some had said that she was crazy to free hundreds of slaves. Others had
whispered behind their hands that there were other reasons, Octavia
followed Christus, and the Christians did not own slaves. But they

dared not say this aloud, for Octavia was very rich and had powerful
friends, even in Caesar's Palace.

III.
THE HYMN OF THE WATER-CARRIER.
As the lawyer and his children reclined at the triclinium in the cool
arcade opening on the garden, Martius narrated to Virgilia his
conversation with Hermione that morning in his father's office.
It was the custom, in the summer months, for the family to take their
meals out of doors, in the shadowed corridor, where there was almost
always a pleasant breeze, even when the sun scorched the bricks and
square stones of the street in front of their house. Occasionally, a man
would pass through the streets, carrying a sheepskin filled with water.
He sang a strange, low song as he sprinkled the red bricks from which a
thick steam arose at once, so scorching hot were they.
He was singing now; the weird melody penetrated even to the corridor.
"What a strange song!" said Aurelius Lucanus, cutting a piece of tender
chicken, roasted on a spit before an open fire in the kitchen so tiny that
there was scarcely room for the cook and his attendants to move about.
Yet here, they prepared the elaborate dinners, served with the utmost
nicety, in which Romans delighted. "It is different from anything I ever
heard."
Two men were carrying around the table huge platters of food. One was
Alyrus, the Moor, who was not only a porter, but a general factotum.
His duties were many and various, from sweeping the floors and
keeping their highly-colored mosaics clear and shining, to
accompanying his master to business, as he had done this morning, and
assisting the man who served at table. He was sent, also, with Virgilia
when she went to pay a visit to some of her friends, or when, in former
times, she went to see one of the Vestal Virgins, and worshipped at the
shrine. There had been some talk of her taking the vows of