"The Nazarenes! Who wastes tears over them? Thine own straight people condemn them, lady."
"An exhilarating recreation, indeed," she repeated as if to herself, "for the prefect, the rabble Alexandrians and the Nazarenes! O seekers of esthetic sport, that will be a rare occasion! Yield me thy promise, my Lord Agrippa, that thou wilt tell us the day the young man arrives!"
Flaccus' face darkened for a moment, but at that moment the alabarch appeared in the colonnade.
"Here comes our host," said Agrippa. "Hast ordered the garlands, Lysimachus?"
"The feast is prepared," Lysimachus replied, and, turning to Flaccus, continued: "Thou shalt see, now, good sir, how Jews feast. In all thine experiences, thou hast never broken bread with a Jew."
"Not so!" Flaccus retorted, "for I was present at the Lady Cypros' wedding-feast!"
"Ho! Flaccus remembering a wedding-feast!" Agrippa laughed, as he arose, taking Junia's hand. "Mars, cherishing a confection!"
"Perchance," Cypros ventured, pleased and coloring, "if Mars' confections were more plentiful and the noble Flaccus' wedding-feasts less rare, they both might forget the one!"
"Never!" Flaccus declared, "though I were Hymen himself!"
As they proceeded toward the colonnade, Cypros drew closer to him.