At last he came, after long days of waiting, with a face so gloomy that
the young man grew pale at sight of him, and springing up had barely
strength to ask,--"Is she not among the Christians?" "She is, lord,"
answered Chilo; "but I found Glaucus among them." "Of what art thou
speaking, and who is Glaucus?" "Thou hast forgotten, lord, it seems,
that old man with whom I journeyed from Naples to Rome, and in whose
defence I lost these two fingers,--a loss which prevents me from
writing. Robbers, who bore away his wife and child, stabbed him with a
knife. I left him dying at an inn in Minturna, and bewailed him long.
Alas! I have convinced myself that he is alive yet, and belongs in Rome
to the Christian community."

Vinicius, who could not understand what the question was, understood
only that Glaucus was becoming a hindrance to the discovery of Lygia;
hence he suppressed his rising anger, and said,--"If thou didst defend
him, he should be thankful and help thee."

"Ah! worthy tribune, even gods are not always grateful, and what must
the case be with men? True, he should be thankful. But, unhappily, he
is an old man, of a mind weak and darkened by age and disappointment;
for which reason, not only is he not grateful, but, as I learned from
his co-religionists, he accuses me of having conspired with the robbers,
and says that I am the cause of his misfortunes. That is the recompense
for my fingers!"

"Scoundrel! I am certain that it was as he says," replied Vinicius.

"Then thou knowest more than he does, lord, for he only surmises that it
was so; which, however, would not prevent him from summoning the