ll-formed head, but a habit of drinking wine, which, in
spite of the gout, he could not bring himself to give up, had flushed
his naturally good features, and tinged them of a coppery red, which
contrasted strangely with his snowy hair and beard. But a kind heart,
benevolence, and a love of good living, beamed in every look.

His heavy limbs moved but slowly, and if ever full lips deserved to be
called sensual, they were those of this man, who was a priest of two
divinities.

How well his household understood the art of catering for his love
of high living, was evident in the meal which was served soon after
Melissa's arrival, and to eat which the old man made her recline on the
couch by his side.

Andreas also shared the supper; and not the attendant slaves only, but
Dame Praxilla, the sister of their host, whose house she managed, paid
him particular honor. She was a widow and childless, and, even during
the lifetime of Diodoros's mother, she had given her heart, no longer
young, to the freedman, without finding her love returned or even
observed. For his sake she would have become a Christian, though she
regarded herself as so indispensable to her brother that she had rarely
left him to hold intercourse with other Christians. Nor did Andreas
encourage her; he doubted her vocation. Whatever happened in the house,
the excitable woman made it her own concern; and, although she had known
Melissa from childhood, and was as fond of her as she could be of
the child of "strangers," the news that Diodoros was to marry the
gem-cutter's daughter was displeasing to her. A second woman in the
house might interfere with her supremacy; and, as an excuse for her
annoyance, she had represented to her brother that Diodoros might
look higher for a wife. Agatha, the beautiful daughter of their rich
Christian neighbor Zeno, was the right bride for the boy.

But Polybius had rated her sharply, declaring that he hoped for no
sweeter daughter than Melissa, who was quite pretty enough, and in whose
veins as pure Macedonian blood flowed as in his own. His son need look
for no wealth, he added with a laugh, since he would some day inherit
his aunt's.

In fact, Praxilla owned a fine fortune, increasing daily under the care
of Andreas, and she replied:

"If the young couple behave so well that I do not rather choose to
bestow my pittance on worthier heirs."

But the implied threat had not disturbed Polybius, for he knew his
sister's way