Messengers and letters were sent to Hermas. They disturbed him a
little, but they took no hold upon him. It seemed to him as if the
messengers spoke in a strange language. As he read the letters there
were words blotted out of the writing which made the full sense
unintelligible.

His old companions came to reprove him for leaving them, to warn him
of the peril of apostasy, to entreat him to return. It all sounded
vague and futile. They spoke as if he had betrayed or offended some
one; but when they came to name the object of his fear--the one
whom he had displeased, and to whom he should return--he heard
nothing; there was a blur of silence in their speech. The clock
pointed to the hour, but the bell did not strike. At last Hermas
refused to see them any more.

One day John the Presbyter stood in the atrium. Hermas was
entertaining Libanius and Athenais in the banquet-hall. When the
visit of the Presbyter was announced, the young master loosed a
collar of gold and jewels from his neck, and gave it to his scribe.

"Take this to John of Antioch, and tell him it is a gift from his
former pupil--as a token of remembrance, or to spend for the poor
of the city. I will always send him what he wants, but it is idle
for us to talk together any more. I do not understand what he says.
I have not gone to the temple, nor offered sacrifice, nor denied his
teaching. I have simply forgotten. I do not think about those things
any longer. I am only living. A happy man wishes him all happiness
and farewell."

But John let the golden collar fall on the marble floor. "Tell your