“Ah,” she said, “I suppose we none of us quite know when we are fit to be martyrs. And, darling, do I want you to be a martyr? God has many good things to let us be besides that. The Church would scarcely get on if all her noblest were to be martyrs, nor the world either, could it?”
“Patrick did come back; and he saved the people who might have martyred him, which seems almost better in some ways,” Baithene rejoined, more cheerfully.
“But Patrick forgave first, and I suppose that is what we have to do now,” said Ethne.
“Is it?” replied Baithene, with some hesitation. “That scarcely seems much easier than being a martyr.”
CHAPTER V.
ONCE MORE THROUGH WRECK TO ROME.
It seemed almost like a second exile to Ethne and Baithene when they left the lofty caverns of that rocky sea-palace, and missed the familiar sound of the matin-bell coming across the sands; and when they lost sight of Dewi, their one friend, standing on a point of rock and watching the boat as long as it could be seen. They had great need of their new faith; and the anchor held, although they took their religion differently, according to their character.