here. I repeat, if any one can help her to get away, it is Berenike.
Our sister-in-law must take the consequences. Caesar can not accuse her
of treason, at any rate, and her interference in the matter will clear us
of all suspicion of complicity."

No word of this conversation had escaped Melissa. She learned nothing
new from it, but it affected her deeply.

Warm-hearted as she was, she fully realized the debt of gratitude she
owed to the lady Euryale; and she could not blame the high-priest, whom
prudence certainly compelled to close his doors against her. And yet she
was wounded by his words. She had struggled so hard in these last days
to banish all thought of her own happiness, and shield her dear ones from
harm, that such selfishness appeared doubly cruel to her. Did it not
seem as if this priest of the great Deity to whom she had been taught to
pray, cared little what became of his nearest relatives, so long as he
and his wife were unmolested? That was the opposite of what Andreas had
praised as the highest duty, the last time she had walked with him to the
ferry; and since then Johanna had told her the story of Christ's
sufferings, and she understood the fervor with which the freedman had
spoken of the crucified Son of God--the great example of all
unselfishness.

In the enthusiasm of her warm young heart she felt that what she had
heard of the Christians' teacher was beautiful, and that she too would
not find it hard to die for those she loved.

With drooping head Euryale re-entered the room, and gazed with kind,
anxious eyes into the girl's face, as if asking her forgiveness.
Following the impulse of her candid heart, Melissa threw her fair young