and quite ready to do your
dead grandmother's bidding? Everybody, of course, looked down upon us
all and thought we must be wicked because we were singers; but you knew
better; you made a distinction; for you invited Agne to come to your
house and sing with you.--No, unless you wish to insult me, say no more
about my owing the dead lady a debt of gratitude!"

Gorgo's eyes fell; but presently she looked up again and said:

"You do not know what that poor soul had suffered. Mary, her son's
widow, had been very cruel to her, had done her injuries she could never
forgive--so perhaps you are right in your notion; but all the same,
my grandmother had a great liking for you--and after all her wish is
fulfilled, for Marcus has found you and he loves you, too, if I am not
mistaken!"

"If you are not mistaken!" retorted Dada. "The gods forefend!--Yes, we
have found each other, we love each other. Why should I conceal it?"

"And Mary, his mother--what has she to say to it?" asked Gorgo.

"I do not know," replied Dada abashed.

"But she is his mother, you know!" cried Gorgo severely. "And he will
never--never--marry against her will. He depends on her for all that he
has in the world."

"Then let her keep it!" exclaimed Dada. "The smaller and humbler the
home he gives me the better I shall like it. I want his love and nothing
more. All--all he desires of me is right and good; he is not like other
men; he does not care for nothing but my pretty face. I will do whatever
he bids me in perfect confidence; and what he thinks about me you may
judge for yourself, for he is going to put me in the care of his tutor
Eusebius."

"Then you have accepted his creed?" asked Gorgo. "Certainly I have,"
said Dada.

"I am glad of that for his sake," said the merchant's daughter. "And if
the Christians only did what their preachers enjoin on them one might be
glad to become one. But they make a riot and destroy everything that is
fine and beautiful. What have you to say to that--you, who were brought
up by Karnis, a true votary of the Muses?"

"I?" said Dada. "There are bad men everywhere, and when they rise
to destroy what is beautiful I am very sorry. But we can love it and
cherish it all the same."

"You are happy indeed if you can shut your eyes at the dictates of your
heart!" retorted Gorgo, but she sighed. "Happy are they and much to be
envied who can compel their judgment to silence when it is grief to
hear its voice. I--I who ha