I have done nothing great
here on earth, and have never risen to be anything more than a deacon.
But if a boy comes up to me and mistakes me for an acolyte or something
of that kind, is that a reason why I should flout or punish him? Not a
bit of it.

"And to my belief our Saviour is too purely divine to hate those who
regard Him as only 'God-like.' He is Love. And when Arius goes to Heaven
and sees Jesus Christ in all His divine glory, and falls down before Him
in an ecstasy of joy and repentance, the worst the Lord will do to him
will be to take him by the ear and say: 'Thou fool! Now thou seest what
I really am; but thine errors be forgiven!'"

Elizabeth nodded assent. "Amen," she said, "so be it.--And so, no doubt,
it will be. Did the Lord cast out the woman taken in adultery? Did he
not give us the parable of the Samaritan?--Poor little girl! We have
often wished for a daughter and now we have found one; a pretty creature
she is too. God grants us all our wishes! But you must be tired, old
man; go to rest now."

"Directly, directly," said Eusebius; but then, striking his forehead
with his hand, he went on in much annoyance: "And with all this tumult
and worry I had quite forgotten the most important thing of all: Marcus!
He is like a possessed creature, and if I do not make a successful
appeal to his conscience before he sleeps this night mischief will come
of it. Yes, I am very tired; but duty before rest. It is of no use to
contradict me, Mother. Get me my cloak; I must go to the lad." And a few
minutes later the old man was making his way to the house in the Canopic
street.

CHAPTER XV.

Dread and anxiety had taken possession of the merchant's household
after Constantine had left them. Messengers came hurrying in, one after
another, to request the presence of Olympius. A heathen secretary of
Evagrius the Governor, had revealed what was astir, and the philosopher
had at once prepared to return to the Serapeum. Porphyrius himself
ordered his closed harmamaxa to be brought out, and undertook to fetch
weapons and standards to the temple from a storehouse where they were
laid by. This building stood on a plot of ground belonging to him in
Rhacotis, behind a timber-yard which was accessible from the streets
in front and behind, but sheltered from the public gaze by sheds and
wood-stacks.

The old aqueduct, which supplied the courts of sacrifice and the
Subterranean crypts of the temple where the mysterie