'Now, do not vex! Art grown thin-skinned, and cannot take this saying of mine as a joke?'
'Nay,' replied he, 'I am emphatic because I mean it. So many falsehoods are told by lovers that if I were not in earnest thou wouldst perhaps doubt my answer.'
'Ah! Thou hast not yet seen the ideal set up within thee. Never mind; persevere, Chios, and she may come to thee sooner than expected. Then we will take the laughing side, and thou must bear with all our points of wit. We will deal leniently; will not let an arrow fly when thy counterpart is near. No, we will be demure, as if we never spoke to thee of such a childish thing as love. Let us change the subject, Chios. Thou hast heard my dearest has left his home once more to visit foreign lands?'
'Yes, I heard. Lucius could not leave Ephesus without the poorest Ionian youth knowing it. He belongs to the people; they watch his coming home and leaving. I should have come to say farewell, but at the time I was prostrated by a touch of Ephesian fever. Not serious, but just enough, as Lucius would say, to make me haul on shore.'
'Yes, those beautiful savages have again rebelled against the Roman State, and the Emperor summoned Lucius with his fleet to the mouth of the Tiber to ship reinforcements for those distant parts. By this time he is well on his journey.'
'How long will he remain?'
'That is quite uncertain. I understand, after disembarking the soldiers, he will sail round the northern shores of the great island, and if the winds fail him the rowers will have a dreadful time, for by accounts the waters there are sluggish and leaden, inasmuch that strong winds driving on the shore make faint impressions on the lifeless seas. The gods speed him, and may he soon return. I have instructed him to bring a British girl for slave for Nika; and I truly hope, if he bring such, she may not be like that dark, mysterious one we owned, by name Saronia. She nearly frightened Nika out of her senses—did she not, girl?'
Nika was silent, and a gloom spread over her face like a funeral pall, and the joy of her life grew faint and low.
'I have been speaking of Saronia to Chios,' said Varro.
'And what thinkest thou of her, Chios?'