boat,
he went on sadly: "To know that, a man must himself have been branded
with the marks of his humiliation." He showed her his arm, which was
usually hidden by the long sleeve of his tunic, and Melissa exclaimed in
sorrowful surprise: "But you were free-born! and none of our slaves bear
such a brand. You must have fallen into the hands of Syrian pirates."

He nodded, and added, "I and my father."

"But he," the girl eagerly put in, "was a great man."

"Till Fate overtook him," Andreas said.

Melissa's tearful eyes showed the warm sympathy she felt, as she asked:

"But how could it have happened that you were not ransomed by your
relations? Your father was, no doubt, a Roman citizen; and the law--"

"The law forbids that such a one should be sold into slavery," Andreas
broke in, "and yet the authorities of Rome left him in misery--left--"

At this, her large, gentle eyes flashed with indignation, and, stirred
to the depths of her nature, she exclaimed:

"How was such horrible injustice possible? Oh, let me hear. You know how
truly I love you, and no one can hear you."

The wind had risen, the waves splashed noisily against the broad boat,
and the song of the slaves, as they plied their oars, would have drowned
a stronger voice than the freedman's; so he sat down by her side to do
her bidding.

And the tale he had to tell was sad indeed.

His father had been of knightly rank, and in the reign of Marcus
Aurelius he had been in the service of Avidius Cassius, his
fellow-countryman, the illustrious governor of Asia as 'procurator ab
epistolis'. As holding this high post, he found himself involved in the
conspiracy of Avidius against the emperor. After the assassination
of his patron, who had already been proclaimed emperor by the troops,
Andreas's father had been deprived of his offices, his citizenship, and
his honors; his possessions were confiscated, and he was exiled to the
island of Anaphe. It was to Caesar's clemency that he owed his life.

On their voyage into exile the father and son fell into the hands of
Syrian pirates, and were sold in the slave-market of Alexandria to two
separate masters. Andreas was bought by a tavern-keeper; the procurator,
whose name as a slave was Smaragdus, by the father of Polybius; and
this worthy man soon learned to value his servant so highly, that he
purchased the son also, and restored him to his father. Thus they were
once more united.

Every attempt of the man who