s my mouse, gentlemen,' answered the old monk, with a bow and
a smile, as he laid his hand on Philammon's arm, and presented to his
astonished eyes the delicate features and high retreating forehead of
Arsenius.

'My father,' cried the boy, in the first impulse of affectionate
recognition; and then--he had expected some such meeting all along, but
now that it was come at last, he turned pale as death. The students saw
his emotion.

'Hands off, old Heautontimoroumenos! He belongs to our guild now! Monks
have no more business with sons than with wives. Shall we hustle him for
you, Philammon?'

'Take care how you show off, gentlemen: the Goths are not yet out of
hearing!' answered Philammon, who was learning fast how to give a smart
answer; and then, fearing the temper of the young dandies, and shrinking
from the notion of any insult to one so reverend and so beloved as
Arsenius, he drew the old man gently away, and walked up the street with
him in silence, dreading what was coming.

'And are these your friends?'

'Heaven forbid! I have nothing in common with such animals but flesh and
blood, and a seat in the lecture-room!'

'Of the heathen woman?'

Philammon, after the fashion of young men in fear, rushed desperately
into the subject himself, just because he dreaded Arsenius's entering on
it quietly.

'Yes, of the heathen woman. Of course you have seen Cyril before you
came hither?'

'I have, and--'

'And,' went on Philammon, interrupting him, 'you have been told every
lie which prurience, stupidity, and revenge can invent. That I have
trampled on the cross--sacrificed to all the deities in the pantheon-and
probably'--(and he blushed scarlet)--'that that purest and holiest of
beings--who, if she were not what people call a pagan, would be, and
deserves to be, worshipped as the queen of saints--that she--and I--'
and he stopped.

'Have I said that I believed what I may have heard?'

'No--and therefore, as they are all simple and sheer falsehoods, there
is no more to be said on the subject. Not that I shall not be delighted
to answer any questions of yours, my dearest father--'

'Have I asked any, my child?'

'No. So we may as well change the subject for the present,'--and he
began overwhelming the old man with inquiries about himself, Pambo, and
each and all of the inhabitants of the Laura to which Arsenius, to
the boy's infinite relief, answered cordially and minutely, and even
vouchsafed a smile at s