Hermione thought she was wandering a little, and beckoned to one of the attendants to bring her a reviving draught.
The Vestal Maxima smiled, saying, “I saw them, and I followed them up a golden stair to the place where the stars were shining. Casca was reading from a book the words of Socrates: ‘The soul is most certainly immortal, and cannot perish; it will exist in the unseen world, taking nothing with it but the discipline it has gained here.’ I know the words well, and I cannot be mistaken. They were spoken by my brother’s voice—Casca’s voice. Whether it were a vision I know not, or a reality I cannot tell, but there is in me a certainty that Casca is near.”
It not unfrequently happens that the spiritual perceptions of those who are nearing the unseen world are quickened. However that may be, Hermione was startled a few hours later by a hasty summons to the atrium, where she was told some strangers were inquiring for the Vestal Maxima.
A pale ethereal looking man, in a long scholar’s robe, was holding a lovely child of five or six years old by the hand, around whom an admiring group of white-robed Vestals clustered.
Behind stood a plainly-dressed, elderly woman, and a man in the full accoutrements of a Roman officer by her side.
Hermione recognised the officer. She had seen him often, for whenever the Vestals were in public, that tall stalwart figure was always hovering near; and once or twice in the early part of this year Hyacintha had referred to him as a friend of her childhood’s days in Verulam.
Claudius had, indeed, watched her from a distance, never offending her by approaching her, loving her with that purest of all loves, the love which can sacrifice everything for the one beloved.
Claudius had noted the gradual decay of Hyacintha’s strength, and reading her aright, he had, as we know, hastened to Alexandria, to bring, if possible, the brother whom she had so dearly loved to her side.
Casca now approached Hermione.
“I am Casca Severus,” he said, “the brother of the Vestal Maxima, Hyacintha Severa. Can I see her?”