"No uproar!" interrupted the soldier to the furious man. "There is the
tribune, he will hear you."

The Roman officer, who now came past with a troop of soldiers to receive
the Emperor outside the city, was greeted by the crowd with loud
shouting. He commanded silence and made the soldier tell him what had so
violently excited the people.

"Very possibly," said the tribune, a sinewy and stern-looking man, who,
like Fuscus, had served under Tinnius Rufus, and had risen from a sutler
to be an officer, "Very possibly--but where are your proofs?"

"Most of the citizens helped in reerecting the statue, but the Christians
held aloof from the work," cried the beggar. "There was not one to be
seen. Ask the sailor, my lord; he was by and he can bear witness to it."

"That certainly is more than suspicious. This matter must be strictly
inquired into. Pay heed, you people."

"Here comes a Christian girl!" cried the sailor.

"Lame Martha; I know her well," interrupted the beggar. "She goes into
all the plague-stricken houses and poisons the people. She stayed three
days and three nights at my brother's turning the children's pillows till
they were carried out. Wherever she goes death follows."

Selene, now known as Martha, paid no heed to the crowd, but with her
blind brother Helios, now called John, went calmly on her way which led
from the raised bank down to the landing-quay. There she wished to hire