Art thou Tobias, the ivory carver?" and the pink head nodded.

Then Nicanor said:

"From Rathumus and Susanna his wife I come, and I am Nicanor, their son,
and would be prentice to thee."

"And Valerius, thy friend," whispered Valerius, plucking at his sleeve.

"And Valerius, my friend," said Nicanor, obediently.

"Why, holy saints!" Tobias said. "From Susanna--and would be prentice to
me! Hold a minute till I let thee in."

His pink head disappeared and the shutter slammed. Soon the door was
opened, and Tobias welcomed them to his house. And a very good house it
was, for Tobias was wealthy. He called his slave, and she brought food
and wine, and they sat at the trestled board on cross-legged stools and
ate until they could eat no more. Then Tobias asked questions, and
Nicanor told of his home and of his parents and of his mother's words,
while Valerius, full-fed, dozed with his head on the table. And as
Nicanor talked, Tobias watched him, for to save his life the boy could
not open his mouth without a tale coming out of it; and when he had
ended Tobias rose and kissed him on both cheeks, and said:

"Thou'lt stay with me, boy, and learn all that I can teach thee, until
thou'rt master-workman. And thou shalt live with me, and be my son, for
sake of her who is thy mother--and it is not my fault that thou art not
my son in very truth. Marry, but thou hast a silver tongue in that shock
head of thine. Now come to bed; thy friend here is snoring like an ox.
And in the morning we'll begin work, and one of my lads shall tell thee
what to do."

So they roused up Valerius and took him off to a room with one window
and a bed. And here Valerius, slipping out of his baldric, pulled the
blanket from the bed, flung himself, dressed as he was, upon the floor,
and was instantly as one dead.

IV

But Nicanor went to the window and opened the wooden shutter and leaned
out. He heard the roar of the many camps, blending into one vast
undercurrent of sound; he caught the red gleam of fires half hidden
behind intervening houses; now and then a bellowed chorus reached him.
Also there were sweet tinkling sounds, of a kind which he had never
heard before, which thrilled him strangely. Sudden desire took him to be
out in the midst of this new stirring life; to see the crowded places,
the mingling of many men. Preparations for the night were going on, for
it was dark by now, with high twinkling stars. He could see, by leaning
far out