Virgilia | Page 9

the Vestals,
who held a very high position in Rome, but both her father and mother
felt that, as an only daughter, she could not be spared from home,
Marcella, one of her companions, had always entered as a novice. In all
her seventeen years of life, Virgilia had never been alone outside of her
father's house. It was not the custom for young girls to go upon the
streets unaccompanied. Even when she paid a visit, Alyrus or one of

the other slaves was waiting in the ante-chamber, to obey her lightest
call.
The other slave, who followed Alyrus with a glass carafe of iced water,
was named Alexis. He was a Greek, from near Ephesus, seized as
prisoner by one of the victorious generals, sold to Aurelius as Alyrus
and Sahira had been. He was unusually handsome, very tall, with broad,
well-formed shoulders and a face and head like one of the ancient
pagan gods, whose statues have come down to us from the chisel of
Phidias, the Greek sculptor. His skin was fair and his hair yellow as
gold. Between him and the dark Moor who walked near him, there was
the difference between light and darkness. It was not a difference in
physical beauty, altogether, although Alyrus bore not only the
disfiguring scar on his face, but smallpox scars, he was not altogether
unpleasing in appearance. The difference lay chiefly in the expression
of eyes and mouth. Alyrus was satirical, sneering, critical; Alexis was
gentle, yet commanding; benign, yet firm.
Both slaves became alert, as the Master had been, listening to the song
of the water-carrier, now becoming less and less distinct.
Alexis's eyes shown, but Alyrus cast a malignant glance at Martius,
whose face was flushed.
"What a strange song!" repeated the lawyer. "It seems to be religious in
its type, yet I never heard it at our functions or in the temples. Who was
that man, Alyrus? Thou, who sittest ever at the doorway and hast an
insatiable curiosity about our neighbors, wilt surely know."
Alyrus frowned at the implied reproof which was, after all, for the
Moor kept closely to himself, except when information could serve
some end.
"It is Lucius, the water-carrier," he said, as shortly as he dared speak to
his master. "It is a Christian song that he is singing."
"Ah!"
Aurelius selected a large, rosy peach, covered with burnished down and
deliciously cold, from the dish presented to him by Alexis. The figs,
grapes and peaches were laid in snow and cracked ice, brought from
distant lands and preserved in this tropical clime by some process
known to the Romans. If Aurelius Lucanus had not been one of the
most prominent advocates in the city, receiving a large pension from
the Emperor himself, he could not have afforded these luxuries.

There was a scowl on his forehead as he pared the peach daintily with a
sharp silver knife. These Christians were beginning to make him
nervous.
There was the Lady Octavia, for instance, who must needs be so foolish
as to release all her slaves just because of a silly fancy that Christians
should not possess human beings as property. She would lose half her
income by this freak, and a good share of her principal invested in these
slaves. What would Aureus Cantus have said to such a wild thing as
this? He should have tied up his affairs in a way which would have
prevented the widow from having the rights to do it. She was now in
for trouble and he did not know how to get her out of it. His own
reputation would suffer if he lost her case.
And then, he had to deal with Martius and Virgilia. That was even
more difficult, for he loved them both very dearly, and hated to be
severe with them. The illness of Claudia could be traced to the same
cause, the singular fanaticism of the members of this new sect.
"The Lady Octavia has invited us to come to enjoy the festivities of the
grape-gathering," Martius was saying.
"It was very good of her and we shall have a splendid time. Everything
at the villa is so beautiful. I wish that father would buy a home out on
the Campagna. But he says that he cannot afford to keep up two
establishments and he must remain in Rome on account of the Emperor
and the Law Courts."
"Father says, though, that when the Emperor goes to his villa at Antium,
we shall all go, too. The Emperor wants father near at hand. Thou
knowest that his magnificent villa is finished now. The house is
enormous, and there is room for us and many others."
"Hast thou seen Octavia's place?"
"Very often. During thy absence, I have been