Then another impulse seized her.  It was to call to her and warn her of his presence; for even women who hate each other hold out the hand of fellowship in the spirit, when the sanctity of woman’s modesty is threatened with danger.  She blushed for Sirona, and had actually opened her lips to call, when the greyhound barked and the dialogue began.  Not a word escaped her sharp ears, and when he told Sirona that she was as good as she was beautiful she felt seized with giddiness; then the topmost stone, by which she had tried to steady herself, lost its balance, its fall interrupted their conversation, and Miriam returned to the sick man.

Now she was standing at the door, waiting for Hermas.  Long, long did she wait; at last he appeared with Dorothea, and she could see that he glanced up again at Sirona; but a spiteful smile passed over her lips, for the window was empty and the fair form that he had hoped to see again had vanished.

Sirona was now sitting at her loom in the front room, whither she had been tempted by the sound of approaching hoofs.  Polykarp had ridden by on his father’s fine horse, had greeted her as he passed, and had dropped a rose on the roadway.  Half an hour later the old black slave came to Sirona, who was throwing the shuttle through the warp with a skilful hand.

“Mistress,” cried the negress with a hideous grin; the lonely woman paused in her work, and as she looked up enquiringly the old woman gave her a rose.  Sirona took the flower, blew away the road-side dust that had clung to it, rearranged the tumbled delicate petals with her finger-tips, and said, while she seemed to give the best part of her attention to this occupation, “For the future let roses be when you find them.  You know Phoebicius, and if any one sees it, it will be talked about.”

The black woman turned away, shrugging her shoulders; but Sirona thought, “Polykarp is a handsome and charming man, and has finer and more expressive eyes than any other here, if he were not always talking of his plans, and drawings, and figures, and mere stupid grave things that I do not care for!”

CHAPTER VII.

The next day, after the sun had passed the meridian and it was beginning to grow cool, Hermas and Paulus yielded to Stephanus’ wish, as he began to feel stronger, and carried him out into the air.  The anchorites sat near each other on a low block of stone, which Hermas had made into a soft couch for his father by heaping up a high pile of fresh herbs.  They looked after the youth, who had taken his bow and arrows, as he went up the mountain to hunt a wild goat; for Petrus had prescribed a strengthening diet for the sick man.  Not a word was spoken by either of them till the hunter had disappeared.  Then Stephanus said, “How much he has altered since I have been ill.  It is not so very long since I last saw him by the broad light of day, and he seems meantime to have grown from a boy into a man.  How self-possessed his gait is.”