n his youth, had been so vast that their increment
could bring no added enjoyment to him or his family, and yet their
increase had become his life's task. He strove for a higher sum to figure
on the annual balance sheet, as eagerly as an athlete strives for a
prize; and his mother not only inspected the account, but watched every
important undertaking with keen interest. When her son and his colleagues
doubted over some decision it was she who gave the casting vote; but
though her advice in most cases proved sound and profitable, she herself
ascribed this less to her own acumen and knowledge of the world than to
the hints she obtained from the stars and from magical calculations. Her
son did not follow her in these speculations, but he rarely disputed the
conclusions that she drew from her astrological studies. While she was
turning night into day he was glad to entertain a few learned friends,
for all the hours of leisure that he could snatch from his pursuit of
fortune, he devoted to philosophy, and the most distinguished thinkers of
Alexandria were happy to be received at the hospitable table of so rich a
patron. He was charmed to be called "Callias,"

[The noble Athenian family of Callias was famed for its wealth and
splendor.]

and the heathen teachers at the schools of the Museum and Serapeum
regarded him as a faithful ally. It was known that he had been baptized,
but he never liked to hear the fact mentioned. He won all hearts by his
perfect modesty, but even more perhaps by a certain air of suffering and
melancholy which protected the wealthy merchant against the envy of
detractors.

In the course of her conversation with Karnis the old lady enquired
particularly as to the antecedent history of Agne, for if there had been
a stain on her character, or if she were by birth a slave, Gorgo could
not of course be seen with her in public, and in that case Karnis would
have to teach the lament of Isis to some freeborn singer. Karnis in reply
could only shrug his shoulders, and beg the ladies and Porphyrius to
judge for themselves when he should have related the young girl's story.

Three years since, he said, he had been staying at Antioch at the time of
a violent outbreak against the levying of certain taxes. There had been
much bloodshed, and he and his family had got out of the city as quickly
as they could. It was growing dusk when they turned into a wayside inn,
where they found Agne and her little brothe