pallium and entreated her to give them to Selene in the name of her
friend at Lochias, she would take them and promise to place them in her
room; but she always said it would do neither him nor her any good at all
that Selene should know from whom they came. After such repulses he well
knew how to flatter and coax her with appealing words, but he had never
dared to defy her or to gain his end by force. When the flowers were
placed in the room Mary looked at them much oftener than Selene did, and
when Antinous had been long absent the deformed girl longed to see him
again, and would pace restlessly up and down between the garden gate and
her friend's little house. She, like him, dreamed of an angel, and the
angel of whom she dreamed was exactly like himself. In all her prayers
she included the name of the handsome heathen and a soft tenderness in
which a gentle pity was often infused, a grief for his unredeemed soul,
was inseparable from all her thoughts of him.

Hannah was informed by her of each of the young man's visits, and as
often as Mary mentioned Antinous the deaconess seemed anxious and desired
her to threaten to call the gate-keeper to him. The widow knew full well
who her patient's indefatigable admirer was, for she had once heard him
speaking to Mastor, and she had asked the slave, who availed himself of
every spare moment to attend the services of the Christians, who the lad
was. All Alexandria, nay all the Empire, knew the name of the most
beautiful youth of his time, the spoilt favorite of Caesar. Even Hannah
had heard of him and knew that poets sang his praises and heathen women
were eager to obtain a glance from his eyes. She knew how devoid of all
morality were the lives of the nobles at Rome, and Antinous appeared to
her as a splendid falcon that wheels above a dove to swoop down upon it
at a favorable moment and to tear it in its beak and talons. Hannah also
knew that Selene was acquainted with Antinous, that it was he who had
formerly rescued her from the big dog and afterward saved her from the