“Is Diodoros in real danger?  Tell me the truth.  I would rather endure the worst than this dreadful anxiety.”

So Andreas acknowledged that the youth was in a bad way, but that Ptolemaeus, himself well-skilled, hoped to cure him if his greater colleague Galenus would aid him.

“And it is to secure his assistance, then,” Melissa went on, “that the leech would have him carried to the Serapeum?”

“Yes, my child.  For he is in Caesar’s train, and it would be vain to try to speak with him to-day or to-morrow.”

“But the journey through the town will do the sufferer a mischief.”

“He will be carried in a litter.”

“But even that is not good for him.  Perfect quiet, Ptolemaeus said, was the best medicine.”

“But Galenus has even better remedies at hand,” was the reply.

Melissa seemed satisfied with this assurance, for she walked on for some time in silence.  But when the uproar of the crowd in the vicinity of the Serapeum became more audible as they advanced, she suddenly stood still, and said: 

“Come what may, I will find my way to the great physician’s presence and crave his help.”  “You?” cried the freedman; and when she firmly reiterated her purpose, the strong man turned pale.

“You know not what you say!” he exclaimed, in deep concern.  “The men who guard the approaches to Caracalla are ruthless profligates, devoid of courtesy or conscience.  But, you may rely upon it, you will not even get into the antechamber.”

“Perhaps.  Nevertheless, it is my duty, and I will try.”

How firmly and decisively she spoke!  And what strength of will sparkled in the quiet, modest maiden’s eyes!  And the closely set lips, which usually were slightly parted, and hardly covered two of her pearly white teeth, gave her a look of such determination, that Andreas could see that no obstacle would check her.

Still, love and duty alike required him to use every means in his power to keep her from taking such a step.  He lavished all his eloquence; but she adhered to her purpose with steadfast persistency, and none of the reasons he could adduce to prove the impossibility of the undertaking convinced her.  The only point which staggered her was the information that the great leech was an old man, who walked with difficulty; and that Galen, as a heathen and a disciple of Aristotle, would never be induced to enter a Christian dwelling.  Both these facts might be a serious hindrance to her scheme; yet she would not now stop to reflect.  They had got back to the great street of Hermes, leading from the temple of that god to the Serapeum, and must cross it to reach the lake, their immediate destination.  As in all the principal streets of Alexandria, a colonnade bordered the street in front of the houses on each side of the wide and handsome roadway.  Under these arcades the foot-passengers were closely packed, awaiting Caesar’s passage.