He was glad at heart that she was concerned about his becoming a Christian soon; hence he answered,—
“Ocelle mi! let it be as thou sayest. Paul prefers to travel with my people, but he is with me, and will be to me a companion and master. Draw aside thy veil, my delight, let me see thee before my journey. Why art thou thus hidden?”
She raised the veil, and showed him her bright face and her wonderfully smiling eyes, inquiring,—
“Is the veil bad?”
And her smile had in it a little of maiden opposition; but Vinicius, while looking at her with delight, answered,—
“Bad for my eyes, which till death would look on thee only.”
Then he turned to Ursus and said,—
“Ursus, guard her as the sight in thy eye, for she is my domina as well as thine.”
Seizing her hand then, he pressed it with his lips, to the great astonishment of the crowd, who could not understand signs of such honor from a brilliant Augustian to a maiden arrayed in simple garments, almost those of a slave.
“Farewell!”