'I require neither.'
'Good. Nevertheless, thy reward awaits thee; thou wilt receive it later on. We fight under the same banner; we shall meet in the same celestial city—the city whose builder is God. The dayspring will glint its glory over thy pathway, and the lustre of morning will bathe thee in heaven. The wings of thy spirit, now folded beside thee, shall spread out their pinions and waft thee o'er oceans of splendour illimitable, urging thee onward from brightness to brightness, raising thee higher and upward and higher till thou standest a messenger swift for the Deity, holding communion with God the Eternal. This is thy destiny. All will be well. Farewell, noble warrior; thou shalt war for the New Faith. 'Tis rumoured the Proconsul promises thee a crown for thy valour. Be thou faithful unto death, and thou shalt receive a crown of life. I have said my thanks. Good-bye—good-bye, noble Chios! My stay in Ephesus will be brief, but thou shalt ever remain in my thoughts, and my prayers shall go forward for my beloved friend.'
Once more Chios was alone.
'What a noble fellow is that old man—prophetic, powerful, good,' he mused. 'I believe in him. What he says is true. I am altered. A light steals through me—a river of peace winds kindly through my soul! May his blessing rest on me, and all his words be fulfilled.
'But what of Saronia? We are no nearer by the advent of this strange faith. Shall we part? Must our communion end? Like two swift ships upon the ocean, greet with welcome hail and pass away across the trackless deep, each going its own particular way? No, no, no! this cannot be. We twain must sail the same course, and at night or in storm give aid. We must move together, the same pilot be ours, enter the same haven, dwell in the same invisible land.
'But can this be? I am drifting, drifting from the old landmarks. She steers by her well-known beacon fires—I strike out alone across an unknown sea in search of a shore which may not exist, or, if it exists, I may never reach it.
'Oh cruel doubt! Oh the struggle for truth! Oh to know what to do!'