far more severely tried.  Mankind, for whom He—­the Son of God—­had come down upon earth, to save from misery and guilt, had rewarded His loving kindness by hanging Him on the cross.  In Him she could see a companion in suffering and she asked the widow to tell her all about Him.  Selene had made many sacrifices to her family—­she could never forget her walk to the papyrus-factory—­but He had let them mock Him and had shed His blood for His own.  And who was she?—­and who was He?  The Son of God.  His image became dear to her; she was never weary of hearing about His life and fate, His words and deeds; and without her observing it the day came when her soul was free to receive the teaching of Christ with fervent longing.  With faith she acquired that consciousness of guilt which had previously been unknown to her.  She had been busy and industrious out of pride and fear, but never from love; she had selfishly tried to fling from her the sacred gift of life without ever thinking what would become of those whom it was her duty to care for.  She had cursed her lovely sister who needed her protection and care, and even Pollux, her childhood’s playfellow; and a thousand times had she imprecated the ruler of human destinies.  All this she now keenly felt with all the earnestness natural to her, but she was soothed by the tidings that there was One who had redeemed the world, and taken on Himself the sins of every repentant sinner.

After Selene had once expressed to the widow her desire to be a Christian, Hannah brought the bishop to see her.  He himself undertook to instruct the girl and he found in her a disciple anxious and craving for knowledge.  Just like those dried-up and dull-colored plants which, when they are plunged in water, open out and revive, so did her heart, untimely withered and dry; and she longed to be perfectly recovered that she, like Hannah, might tend the sick and exercise that love which Christ demands of His followers.  That which most particularly appealed to her in her new faith was that it did not promise joys to the rich who could make great sacrifices, but to the miserable sinner who with a contrite heart yearned for forgiveness, to the poor and abject, towards whom she felt as though they belonged to the same family as herself.  And her valiant spirit could not be satisfied with intentions but longed to act upon them.  In Besa she could set to work with Hannah, and this prospect lightened her grief in quitting Alexandria.

A favoring wind bore the voyagers southward safe to their destination.

Two days after their departure Antinous once more stole into Paulina’s garden.  He went up to the widow’s little house looking in vain for the deformed girl; the road was open; her absence could but be pleasing to him, and yet it disquieted him.  His heart beat wildly, for to-day—­ perhaps he might find Selene alone.  He opened the door without knocking, but he dared not cross the threshold, for in the anteroom stood a strange man, placing boards against the wall.  The carpenter, a Christian to whom Paulina had given this little house for his family to live in, asked Antinous what he wanted.