"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.
"No; she proposed doing so as soon as her young pupil—"
"Intentions count for nothing in law, and I can protect our pretty little guest against her claim."
"I will fetch her," said Julia. "The time must certainly have seemed very long to her already. Will you come with me, Eumenes?"
"With pleasure," replied the old man, "Arsinoe and I are excellent friends; a conciliatory word from me will do her good, and my blessing cannot harm even a heathen. Farewell, Titianus, my deacons are expecting me."
When Julia returned to the sitting-room with her protegee, the child's eyes were wet with tears, for the kind words of the venerable old man had gone to her heart and she knew and acknowledged that she had experienced good as well as evil from Paulina.