recognize him. Whence he had procured this garment was not hard to
divine, for imperial servants had distributed them in numbers among the
crowd. Caesar was anxious to bring them into fashion, and it might
safely be expected that those Alexandrians who had held out their hands
to accept them would appear in them on the morrow, as no order required
that they should be worn. Alexander could not do better than wear one,
if only by such means he could escape Zminis and his men.

But who were the women he was pursuing? Before Melissa could ask the
question, Andreas pointed to the foremost boat, and said:

"Those are Christian women, and the bark they are in belongs to Zeno, the
brother of Seleukus and of the high-priest of Serapis. That is his
landing-creek. He lives with his family, and those of the faith to whom
he affords refuge, in the long, white house you can just see there among
the palm-trees. Those vineyards, too, are his. If I am not mistaken,
one of the ladies in that boat is his daughter, Agatha."

"But what can Alexander want of two Christian women?" asked Melissa.

Andreas fired up, and a vein started on his high forehead as he retorted
angrily:

"What should he not want! He and those who are like him--the blind--
think nothing so precious as what satisfies the eye.--There! the
brightness has vanished which turned the lake and the shore to gold.
Such is beauty!--a vain show, which only glitters to disappear, and is
to fools, nevertheless, the supreme object of adoration!"

"Then, is Zeno's daughter fair?" asked the girl.