"Somebody is following us!"
The two young girls turned round also. A flood of moonlight fell upon them, and the individual following them exclaimed cheerfully—
"Arsinoë! Myrrha!... And so I have found you again! Where are you going?"
"We're going among the Christians," answered Arsinoë. "Come with us, Anatolius; you will see some curious things."
"What do I hear? Among the Christians?—You have always been their enemy!" wondered the centurion.
"With age, my friend, one grows better and more tolerant, or indifferent, if you like to call it so. This is a superstition neither better nor worse than other superstitions. And then one is capable of a good deal when bored. I am going among them for Myrrha's sake; it pleases her...."
"Where is the church? We're out in the plain," murmured Anatolius.
"The churches are destroyed or profaned by their fellow-Christians, the Arians, who believe in Christ otherwise than they do. You must have heard the debates about it at Court. So now the adversaries of the Arians are wont to pray in secret in subterranean vaults, as in the time of the first persecutions."
Myrrha and Juventinus had lingered a little behind the others; Arsinoë and Anatolius could talk freely.
"Who is he?" asked the centurion with a nod towards Juventinus.