True, midway, Arsinoe had suddenly stopped and had thought that instead of going to Selene for advice, she would turn round and seek Pollux and ask him to help her.  The thought of her lover forced its way through all her sorrow and anxiety, through the reproaches she heaped upon herself and the vague plans floating in the air which her brain—­unaccustomed to any serious thought, vainly tried to sketch for the future.  He was kind, and would certainly be ready to help her; but maidenly modesty held her back from seeking him at so late an hour; besides, how could she discover him or his parents?

The place where her sister was she was now familiar with, and no one could judge of their position better or give sounder counsel than prudent Selene.  So she had not turned round, but had hurried on to reach her destination as soon as possible; and now she was standing before the little house in the garden.  Before opening the door she once more considered in what way she could prepare Selene and tell her terrible news, and, as all that happened stood vividly before her mind’s eye, she began to weep once more.

In front of her, and following her, men and veiled women, singly or in couples or in larger groups, passed into Paulina’s garden.  They came from workshops and writing-rooms, from humble houses in narrow lanes, and from the handsomest and largest in the main street.  Each and all, from the wealthy merchant down to the slave who could not call the coarse tunic or scanty apron that he wore, his own, walked gravely and with a certain dignified reserve.  All who met within that gate greeted each other as friends; the master gave a brotherly kiss to the servant, the slave to his owner; for the congregation to which they all belonged was as one body, animated and dwelt in by Christ, so that each member was esteemed as equal to the others however different their gifts of body or mind might be, or the worldly possessions with which they were endowed.  Before God and his Saviour the rich ship-owner or the grey-haired sage stood no higher than the defenceless widow and the ignorant slave crippled with blows.  Still, the members of the community submitted to those more implicitly than to these, for the special talents which graced certain superior Christians were gifts of grace from the Lord, readily acknowledged as such and, so far as they concerned the inner man, deemed worthy of honor.

On Sunday, the day of the Resurrection of the Lord, all Christians, without exception, visited their place of assembly for divine worship.  To-day, being the middle of the week, all who could or chose came to the love-feast at Paulina’s suburban house.  She herself dwelt in the city and she had placed the banqueting hall of her villa, which would hold more than a hundred souls, at the disposal of her fellow Christians in that quarter of the town.  The regular service was held in the morning, but after the day’s labor was ended the Christians met at one table to have an evening meal in common, or—­on other occasions to partake of the sacramental supper.  After sunset the elders, deacons, and deaconesses—­most of whom, so long as it was light, had secular work to attend to—­met to take counsel together.