"To whom then wouldst thou offer them?"

"We should bow only to the true God."

"And he? Who is he? Where is he?"

"He is the one invisible and mighty, the God of Heaven and of all
men."

"That is Jupiter, the all-powerful."

"It is not Jupiter, it is our God, as revealed in the Lord Jesus
Christ."

"A malefactor."

Virgilia smiled.

"Crucified for us," she murmured, "that we might have eternal life. He
sitteth now on the right hand of God.".

Her father gazed at her in astonishment. The girl was certainly out of
her mind? But, if she were then so was the Lady Octavia and her son
and daughter, and Martius, and hundreds, perhaps even thousands of
others, if rumor spoke truly. It was a dangerous heresy, and must be
destroyed.

It was no use to argue with a person who was really scarcely
responsible, as Virgilia now appeared to him to be. He must deal very