he letter I
brought him; and begged me bring you, at once, to his presence."

Titus was alone in a small chamber, whose simplicity contrasted
strangely with the magnificence of those through which he had
passed. He rose from a table at which he had been writing.

"Ah, my good friend," he said, "I am truly glad to see you! I made
sure that you were dead. You were not among those who came out, and
gave themselves up, or among those who were captured when the city
was taken; for I had careful inquiry made, thinking it possible
that you might have lost my ring, and been unable to obtain access
to me; then, at last, I made sure that you had fallen. I am truly
glad to see that it is not so."

"I was marvellously preserved, then, as at Jotapata," John said;
"and escaped, after the Temple had fallen, by a secret passage
leading out beyond the wall of circumvallation. As I made my way
home, I fell into the hands of some slave dealers, who seized me
and my companion--who is my adopted brother--and carried us away to
Alexandria, where I was sold. As you had not yet returned to Rome,
I thought it better not to produce your signet, which I had
fortunately managed to conceal.

"When I heard that you had reached Rome, and had received your
triumph, I produced the ring to my master Tibellus; and prayed him
to send me and my companion here to you, in order that I might ask
for liberty, and leave to return to my home. He treated me with the
greatest kindness and, but that I had appealed to you, would of
himself have set us free. It is for this, alone, that I have come
here; to ask you to confirm the freedom he has given me, and to
permit me to return to Galilee. Further, if you will give me your
order that I and mine may live peacefully, without molestation from
any, it would add to your favours."

"I will do these, certainly," Titus said, "and far more, if you
will let me. I shall never forget that you saved my life; and
believe me, I did my best to save the Temple, which was what I
promised you. I did not say that I would save it, merely that I
would do my best; but your obstinate countrymen insisted in
bringing destruction upon it."

"I know that you did all that was possible," John said, "and that
the blame lies with them, and not with you, in any way. However, it
was the will of God that it should be destroyed; and they were the
instruments of his will, while they thought they were trying to
preserve it."

"But now," Titu