er cup
to the dregs years ago!'

They went on for some time in silence, till the officer, turning to
him--

'And may I ask you, my quaint preserver, whom I would have thanked
before but for this foolish faintness, which is now going off, what and
who you are?'

'A flea, sir--a flea--nothing more.'

'But a patrician flea, surely, to judge by your language and manners?'

'Not that exactly. True, I have been rich, as the saying is; I may be
rich again, they tell me, when I am fool enough to choose.'

'Oh if we were but rich!' sighed the girl.

'You would be very unhappy, my dear young lady. Believe a flea who has
tried the experiment thoroughly.'

'Ah! but we could ransom my brother! and now we can find no money till
we get back to Africa.'

'And none then,' said the officer, in a low voice. 'You forget, my poor
child, that I mortgaged the whole estate to raise my legion. We must not
shrink from looking at things as they are.'

'Ah! and he is prisoner! he will be sold for a slave--perhaps--ah!
perhaps crucified, for he is not a Roman! Oh, he will be crucified!' and
she burst into an agony of weeping....Suddenly she dashed away her tears
and looked up clear and bright once more.

'No! forgive me, father! God will protect His own!'

'My dear young lady,' said Raphael, 'if you really dislike such
a prospect for your brother, and are in want of a few dirty coins
wherewith to prevent it, perhaps I may be able to find you them in
Ostia.'

She looked at incredulously, as her eye glanced over his rags, and then,
blushing, begged his pardon for her unspoken thoughts.

'Well, as you choose to suppose. But my dog has been so civil to you
already, that perhaps she may have no objection to make you a present
of that necklace of hers. I will go to the Rabbis, and we will make all
right; so don't cry. I hate crying; and the puppies are quite chorus
enough for the present tragedy.'

'The Rabbis? Are you a Jew?' asked the officer.

'Yes, sir, a Jew. And you, I presume, a Christian: perhaps you may
have scruples about receiving--your sect has generally none about
taking--from one of our stubborn and unbelieving race. Don't be
frightened, though, for your conscience; I assure you I am no more a Jew
at heart than I am a Christian.'

'God help you then!'

'Some one, or something, has helped me a great deal too much, for
three-and-thirty years of pampering. But, pardon me, that was a strange
speech for a Christian.'