g
entombed; it was that of the monk whom the bull had gored; the Bishop
had proclaimed that by this attack on the abomination of desolation--the
blood-sacrifice of idolatry--he had won an eternal crown in Paradise.

But now the black ravens crossed Damia's vision once more, till
presently a handsome young Greek gaily drove them off with his thyrsus.
His powerful and supple limbs shone with oil, applied in the gymnasium
of Timagetes, the scene of his frequent triumphs in all the sports and
exercises of the youthful Greeks. His features and waving hair were
those of her son Apelles; but suddenly his aspect changed: he was an
emaciated penitent, his knees bent under the weight of a heavy cross;
his widow, Mary, had declared him a martyr to the cause of the crucified
Jew and defamed his memory in the eyes of his own son and of all men.
Damia clenched her trembling hands. Again those ravens came swirling
round, flapping their wings wildly over the prostrate penitent.

Then her husband appeared to her, calmly indifferent to the birds of
ill-omen. He looked just as she remembered him many--so many years ago,
when he had come in smiling and said: "The best stroke of business I
ever did! For a sprinkling of water I have secured the corn trade with
Thessalonica and Constantinople; that is a hundred gold solidi for each
drop."

Yes, he had made a good bargain. The profits of that day's work
were multiplied by tens, and water, nothing in the world but Nile
water--Baptismal water the priest had called it--had filled her son's
money-bags, too, and had turned their plot of land into broad estates;
but it had been tacitly understood that this sprinkling of water
established a claim for a return, and this both father and son had
solemnly promised. Its magic turned everything they touched to gold, but
it brought a blight on the peace of the household. One branch, which had
grown up in the traditions of the old Macedonian stock, had separated
from the other; and her husband's great lie lay between them and the
family still living in the Canopic way, like a wide ocean embittered
with the salt of hatred. That he had infused poison into his son's life
and compelled him, proud as he was, to forfeit the dignity of a free
and high-minded man. Though devoted in his heart to the old gods he
had humbled himself, year after year, to bow the knee with the hated
votaries of the Christian faith, and in their church, to their crucified
Lord, and had