almost it seemed then that she flashed on him a look of hatred and
contempt.

After that she turned away, and with her foot kicked away the fallen
lilies. She sat now leaning forward, motionless and still, with her
elbows buried in an embroidered cushion before her and her chin resting
on her hands.

Oh! if he only could, how gladly would he have seized her even now and
carried her away from this nauseating scene of bloodshed and cruelty. He
crossed his arms over his powerful chest till every muscle seemed to
crack with the effort of self-control. His very soul longed to take her
away, his sinews ached with the desire to seize her and to bear her in
his arms away, away beyond the cruel encircling walls of Rome, away from
her marble palaces and temple-crowned hills, away over the marshes of
the Campania and the belt of the blue sea beyond to that far-off land of
Galilee where he himself had found happiness and peace.

The Caesar had commanded his presence here to-day, and he had come
because the Caesar had commanded. To the last he would render unto Caesar
that which was Caesar's. But he had stood by with eyes that only saw a
golden head crowned with diamonds, a delicate oval cheek coloured like a
peach and tiny fleecy curls that fluttered softly in the breeze.

There was no longer any sorrow in his heart, no longer any remorse or
thought of treachery. The man in the little hut on the Aventine had
shown him the way how to lay down his burden of weakness and of sin.

He knew that he loved Dea Flavia with all the ardour of an untamed heart
that has never before tasted the sweetness of love. He knew that he
loved her with all the passion of a soul that at last hath found a mate.
But now he knew also that in this love there was no thought of treachery
to Him in Whose service he was prepared to lay down his life. He knew
that never again would the exquisite vision of this fair young pagan
stand between him and the Cross, but rather that she would point to
him--ignorantly and unconsciously--the way up to Golgotha.

For renunciation awaited him--that also did he know. A few more days in
the service of the Caesar, and his promise to remain in Rome would no
longer bind him, since Caligula had returned from abroad.

The rest of his life was at the bidding of Him Who mutely from the Cross
had demanded his allegiance: a lonely hut somewhere on the Campania, or
further if God demanded it, a life of strenuous effort to win soul