Part 24 (1/2)
”It is my nurse,” Ennia said; ”I was on my way with her, Beric, to a secret meeting of Christians held in an underground room of one of the villas that stood here. I have been there several times before and we have not been molested, but, as I gathered from what the men said, they noticed the light fall upon my necklace and bracelet as I pa.s.sed by a lamp, and so followed us. Happily they overtook us before we reached the place of meeting. Had they followed us farther they might have come upon us there, and then much more harm would have been done. They came up and roughly demanded who we were, and bade me hand over my jewels. Lycoris answered them, and they struck her down. I threw myself down on her and clung to her, but they would soon have plundered and perhaps killed me had not you arrived.”
”Do not you think, Ennia, that it is foolish and wrong of you thus to go out unprotected at night to such a place as this, and, as I suppose, without the knowledge of your father and mother?”
”They do not know,” she said, ”but it is my duty to go. It is the only opportunity I have for hearing the Word preached.”
”I cannot think, Ennia, that it is your duty,” Beric said gravely.
”The first duty of a young woman is to obey her parents, and I think that you, being as yet scarce a woman, are not able to judge between one religion and another. I know nothing of the doctrines of this sect save what your father told me; but he said that they were good and pure, and, being so, I am sure that they cannot countenance disobedience to parents.”
”The words are 'Forsake all, and follow Me,'” Ennia said firmly.
”That could not have been said to one of your age, Ennia. I was reading the Jewish sacred book the other day, and one of the chief commandments is to honour your father and mother. Well, I think, at any rate, that it were best not to go there tonight. These men may return, and at any rate I will not allow you thus to wander about at night unprotected. Boduoc and I will escort you to your house. When you get there I trust that you will think this over, and that you will see that such midnight excursions are altogether wrong, whatever the motive may be; but at any rate, if you must go, I must obtain your promise that you will write to me at the school of Scopus the gladiator, to tell me at what hour you start. I shall not intrude my presence upon you, nor accompany you, for this would be to make myself an accomplice in what I consider your folly; but I shall always be near you, and if you are again disturbed on your way Boduoc and I will be at hand to punish those who meddle with you.”
The old nurse by this time had regained her feet.
”You are the nurse of this young lady,” Beric said to her sternly, ”and should know better than to bring her into danger. If Norba.n.u.s knew what you have done he would have you cut in pieces.”
”It is not the fault of Lycoris. She begged and entreated me not to come, but I would not listen to her. You are angry with me, Beric, but you would not be angry if you knew what it was to me. Younger than I have died for the Faith, and I would die too if it were necessary.”
Beric made no reply, he was indeed deeply vexed at what he considered an act of mad folly. The daughters of Norba.n.u.s had been very friendly and kind to him at Ma.s.silia, and he felt a debt of grat.i.tude to their father; and this escapade on the part of Ennia, who was as yet scarce sixteen, vexed him exceedingly. He was not sure, indeed, but that he ought to go straight to Norba.n.u.s and tell him what had happened, yet he feared that in such a case the anger of the magistrate would be so great that Ennia would be forced by him into becoming one of the vestal virgins, or be shut up in strict imprisonment. Scarce a word was spoken as they pa.s.sed down the hill and into the streets, now almost deserted. At last Ennia stopped at the entrance used by the slaves to her father's house.
”Will you give me your promise,” he asked, ”about going out at night again? I implore you, I beseech you do not again leave the house of your father at night unknown to him. You cannot tell the dangers you run by so doing, or the misery you may bring, not only on yourself, but on your parents.”
”I promise you,” Ennia said. ”I owe you so great a debt of grat.i.tude that even your harsh words do not anger me. I will think over what you have said, and try to do what may seem to me my duty.”
”That is all I ask,” Beric said more gently; and then turning walked away with Boduoc, who had but faintly understood what was being said, but was surprised at the recognition between Beric and this girl, whom he had not particularly noticed when at Ma.s.silia.
”That is Pollio's cousin, the younger daughter of the magistrate I stayed with at Ma.s.silia. It was well for her that it was not Pollio who came to her rescue instead of us.”
”I should say so,” Boduoc said dryly. ”Pollio would scarcely be a match for eight cutthroats.”
”I did not mean that, Boduoc. I meant that he would have rated her soundly.”
”It seemed to me that you were rating her somewhat soundly, Beric.
I scarce ever heard you speak so harshly before, and I wondered the more as you are neither kith nor kin to her, while by the heartiness with which you scolded her you might have been her own brother.”
”I did not think whether I had a right to scold her or not, Boduoc.
I liked both the maiden and her sister, and their father was very kind to me. Moreover, after all Pollio has done for us, the least I could do was to look after his cousin. But even if I had known nothing whatever of her or her friends, I should have spoken just as I did. The idea of a young girl like that wandering about at night with no one but an old slave to protect her in an unfrequented quarter of Rome! It is unheard of.”
”But what were they doing there, Beric?”
”They were going to a meeting place of a new religion there is in Rome. The people who belong to it are persecuted and obliged to meet in secret. The old woman belongs to it, and has, I suppose, taught Ennia. I have heard that the sect is spreading, and that although most of those who adhere to it are slaves, or belong to the poorer cla.s.s, there are many of good family who have also joined it.”
”Well, I should have thought,” Boduoc said, ”that the Romans had no cause to be dissatisfied with their G.o.ds. They have given them victory, and dominion, and power, and wealth. What more could they want of them? I could understand that we, whose G.o.d did nothing to a.s.sist us in our fight against the Romans, should seek other G.o.ds who might do more for us. But that a Roman should have been discontented with his G.o.ds is more than I can understand. But what is that sudden flash of light?”
”It is a fire, and in these narrow streets, with a brisk wind blowing, it may well spread. There, do you hear the watchmen's trumpets giving the alarm? Let us get back quickly, Boduoc. It may be that we shall be all turned out to fight the fire if it spreads.”
They were not far from the school now, and a few minutes' run took them there. The house was quiet, but a few oil lamps burning here and there enabled them to make their way to the broad planks, arranged like a modern guard bed, on which they slept with their three comrades.
”Is that you, Beric?” Scopus, who slept in a cubicule leading off the great room, asked.
”Yes it is; Boduoc and I.”