him, and bless both the flock and him.

Rome did not exist for those people, nor did the man Cæsar; there were
no temples of pagan gods; there was only Christ, who filled the land,
the sea, the heavens, and the world.

At the houses scattered here and there along the Via Nomentana, the
cocks began to crow, announcing midnight. At that moment Chilo pulled
the corner of Vinicius's mantle and whispered,--"Lord, I see Urban over
there, not far from the old man, and with him is a maiden."

Vinicius shook himself, as if out of a dream, and, turning in the
direction indicated by the Greek, he saw Lygia.




Chapter XXI

EVERY drop of blood quivered in the young patrician at sight of her. He
forgot the crowd, the old man, his own astonishment at the
incomprehensible things which he had heard,--he saw only her. At last,
after all his efforts, after long days of alarm, trouble, and suffering,
he had found her! For the first time he realized that joy might rush at
the heart, like a wild beast, and squeeze it till breath was lost. He,
who had supposed hitherto that on "Fortuna" had been imposed a kind of
duty to accomplish all his wishes, hardly believed his own eyes now and
his own happiness. Were it not for that disbelief, his passionate
nature might have urged him to some unconsidered step; but he wished to
convince himself first that that was not the continuation of those