to succor the
Serapeum. The State had confiscated his extensive and valuable lands,
and the young officer, after retiring from the service, had purchased
them with the splendid fortune left to Gorgo by her grandmother.

The two sons of Porphyrius had, as it proved, been so happy as to escape
in the massacre at Thessalonica; and as they were Christians and piously
orthodox, the old man transferred to them, during his lifetime,
the chief share of his wealth; so that henceforth he could live
honestly--alienated from the Church and a worshipper of the old gods,
without anxiety as to his will. The treasures of art which Constantine
and Gorgo found in the house of Barkas they carefully preserved, though,
ere long, few heathen were to be found even in this neighborhood which
had formerly been the headquarters of rebellion on behalf of the old
religion.

Papias was brought up with the children of Marcus and Dada Cecilia,
while his sister Agne, finding herself relieved of all care on his
account, sought and found her own way through life.

Orpheus, after seeing his parents killed in the fight at the Serapeum,
was carried, sorely wounded, to the sick-house of which Eusebius was
spiritual director. Agne had volunteered to nurse him and had watched
by his couch day and night. Eusebius had also brought Dada and Papias
to visit them, and Dada had promised, on behalf of Marcus, that Agne and
her brother should always be provided for, even in the event of the good
Deacon's death. The little boy was for the moment placed in Eusebius'
care, and it was a cause of daily rejoicing to Agne to hear from the
kind old man of all the charming qualities he discovered in the child
who was perfectly happy with the old folks, and who, though he was
always delighted to see his sister, was quite content to part from her
and return home with Eusebius, or with Dada, to whole he was devoted.

Orpheus recognized no one, neither Agne nor the child--and when
visitors had been to see him, in his fevered ravings he would talk more
vehemently than ever of great Apollo and other heathen divinities. Then
he would fancy that he was still fighting in the Serapeum and butchering
thousands of Christian foes with his own hand. Agne, whom he rarely
recognized for a moment, would talk soothingly to him, and even try to
say a few words about the Saviour and the life to come; but he always
interrupted her with blasphemous exclamations, and cursed and abused
her. Neve