"Amen!" said the Patriarch. "Where two such as you dwell together there the Lord is third in the bond." "Give us your disciple Marcianus to be our travelling-companion," said Titianus.
"Willingly," said Eumenes. "Shall he come to visit you when I leave you?"
"Not immediately," replied Julia. "I have this morning an important and at the same time pleasant business to attend to. You know Paulina, the widow of Pudeus. She took into her keeping a pretty young creature—"
"And Arsinoe has run away from her."
"We took her in here," said Titianus. "Her protectress seems to have failed in attracting her to her, or in working favorably on her nature."
"Yes," said the Patriarch. "There was but one key to her full, bright heart—Love—but Paulina tried to force it open with coercion and persistent driving. It remained closed—nay, the lock is spoiled.—But, if I may ask, how came the girl into your house?"
"That I can tell you later, we did not make her acquaintance for the first time yesterday."
"And I am going to fetch her lover to her," cried the prefect's wife.
"Paulina will claim her of you," said the Patriarch. "She is having her sought for everywhere; but the child will never thrive under her guidance."
"Did the widow formally adopt Arsinoe?" asked Titianus.