im
as a duty to leave Sicca for his cottage, and he set off. He had a
confused notion that he must do his duty, and go straight forward, and
turn neither to the right, nor the left, and stop nowhere, but move on
steadily for his true home. But next an impression came upon him that he
was running away from persecution, and that this ought not to be, and that
he ought to face the enemy, or at least not to hide from him, but meekly
wait for him.

As he went along the narrow streets which led down the hill towards the
city gate this thought came so powerfully upon him that at length he sat
down on a stone which projected from an open shop, and thought of
surrendering himself. He felt the benefit of the rest, and this he fancied
to be the calm of conscience consequent upon self-surrender and
resignation. It was a fruiterer's stall, and the owner, seeing his
exhaustion, offered him some slices of a water-melon for his refreshment.
He ate one of them, and then again a vague feeling came on him that he was
in danger of idolatry, and must protest against idolatry, and that he
ought not to remain in the neighbourhood of temptation. So, throwing down
the small coin which was sufficient for payment, he continued his journey.
The rest and the refreshment of the fruit, and the continued shade which
the narrow street allowed him, allayed the fever, and for the time
recruited him, and he moved on languidly. The sun, however, was still high
in heaven, and when he got beyond the city beat down upon his head from a
cloudless sky. He painfully toiled up the ascent which led to his cottage.
He had nearly gained the gate of his homestead; he saw his old household
slave, born in his father's house, a Christian like himself, coming to
meet him. A dizziness came over him, he lost his senses, and fell down
helplessly upon the bank.

CHAPTER XIII.

AND RESURRECTION.

Jucundus was quite as much amused as provoked at the result of the
delicate negotiation in which he had entangled his nephew. It was a
gratification to him to find that its ill success had been owing in no
respect to any fault on the side of Agellius. He had done his part without
shrinking, and the view which he, Jucundus, had taken of his state of
mind, was satisfactorily confirmed. He had nothing to fear from Agellius,
and though he had failed in securing the guarantee which he had hoped for
his attachment to