these feathered friends a starling. His faithful and now freed slave,
Argutis, had, by Polybius's orders, supplied everything needful; but the
birds were a thought of the Christian girl Agatha. All this was a
consolation in his grief, and when the gem-cutter was alone with old Dido
he burst into sobs. The slave woman followed his example, but he stopped
her with loud, harsh scolding. At first she was frightened; but then she
exclaimed with delight from the very bottom of her faithful heart, "The
gods be praised!" and from the moment when he could storm, she always
declared, Heron's recovery began.

........................

The sun was setting when Andreas made his way to Zeno's house--a long,
white-washed building.

The road led through a palm-grove on the Christian's estate. His anxiety
to see the beloved sufferers urged him forward so quickly that he
presently overtook another man who was walking in the same direction in
the cool of the evening. This was Ptolemaeus, the physician.

He greeted Andreas with cheerful kindness, and the freedman knew what he
meant when, without waiting to be asked, he said:

"We are out of the wood now; the fever has passed away. The delirious
fancies have left her, and since noon she has slept. When I quitted her
an hour ago she was sleeping soundly and quietly. Till now the shaken
soul has been living in a dream; but now that the fever has passed away,
she will soon be herself again. As yet she has recognized no one;
neither Agatha nor the lady Euryale; not even Diodoros, whom I allowed to
look at her yesterday for a moment. We have taken her away from the