the main door of the temple in the Forum and boldly asked for the
Lycidon, chief priest of Jupiter.

"Wait thou here," he commanded, and Alexis seated himself on the
steps, watching the busy crowds passing by.

It was a feast-day, and a white bull, hung with flowers was being led
through the Sacred Way to a shrine where the people would worship him
as possessing the spirit of a great god. Everything was a god to the
Romans, even trees and animals were possessed of spirit.

Alexis looked at the bull and the procession of priests following it;
at the dancing girls and the motley crowd of men and women. He prayed
to Almighty God that he might show these poor deluded beings the
better way to Eternal Life.

The tall superior was more gracious to the lawyer who brought rich
gifts than he had been to the slave Alyrus. When he learned the name
of the donor, he was still more suave and his eyes were very keen.

"Thy name shall go down to all generations as a faithful follower of
the gods," he said, laying aside the golden chalice and purse of gold
pieces. "In these days when Rome is filled with new doctrines and
heretics are found on every side, it is cheering to know that the
learned lawyer Aurelius Lucanus gives richly to the gods."

But when Lucanus had gone away, flattered, yet relieved to get out of
those dismal corridors into the brilliant October sunshine, the priest
smiled, a cruel smile of one who meditates evil. Alexis rose from his
seat on the steps and followed his master to his office.