e succored those whom he
could, and made no enquiries about the condition of the sufferer. The
pathetic union in which he found the two men touched his heart, and,
turning to Paulus, he said kindly: "I can leave you in perfect comfort,
for you seem to me to have a faithful nurse."

The Alexandrian reddened; he shook his head, and replied: "I? I thought
of no one but myself, and left him to suffer and thirst in neglect, but
now I will not quit him--no, indeed, I will not, and by God's help and
yours, he shall recover."

Petrus gave him a friendly nod, for he did not believe in the
anchorite's self-accusation, though he did in his good-will; and
before he left the cave, he desired Hermas to come to him early on the
following day to give him news of his father's state. He wished not only
to cure Stephanus, but to continue his relations with the youth, who had
excited his interest in the highest degree, and he had resolved to help
him to escape from the inactive life which was weighing upon him.

Paulus declined to share the simple supper that the father and son were
eating, but expressed his intention of remaining with the sick man. He
desired Hermas to pass the night in his dwelling, as the scanty limits
of the cave left but narrow room for the lad.

A new life had this day dawned upon the young man; all the grievances
and desires which had filled his soul ever since his journey to
Alexandria, crowding together in dull confusion, had taken form and
color, and he knew now that he could not remain an anchorite, but must
try his over abundant strength in real life.

"My father," thought he, "was a warrior, and lived in a palace, before
he retired into our dingy cave; Paulus was Menander, and to this day has
not forgotten how to throw the discus; I am young, strong, and free-born
as they were, and Petrus says, I might have been a fine man. I will
not hew and chisel stones like his sons, but Caesar needs soldiers, and
among all the Amalekites, nay among the Romans in the oasis, I saw none
with whom I might not match myself."

While thus he thought he stretched his limbs, and struck his hands on
his broad breast, and when he was asleep, he dreamed of the wrestling
school, and of a purple robe that Paulus held out to him, of a wreath
of poplar leaves that rested on his scented curls, and of the beautiful
woman who had met him on the stairs of the senator's house.

CHAPTER V.

Thanks to the senator's potion Stephan