Virgilia; or, Out of the Lion's Mouth Part 7

Her father saw, with sorrow, that her face was deathly white.

There was eating and drinking and merriment, in which Virgilia, in spite of her sadness, tried to join. It did not occur to her to protest or question her father's judgment. A daughter must accept the husband chosen for her; but she wished with all her heart that it might have been Marcus, the son of Octavia, who was sitting by her side, wearing the bridal garland, rather than this feeble old man.

Yet, even the thought was disloyal and unmaidenly. She dismissed it.

The merriment was at its height, and Aurelius began to feel that Virgilia would not suffer much from this necessary solution of a difficult problem, when the curtain of Persian silk at the door was suddenly torn aside and the Old One entered.

Very slowly, leaning on her staff, bowed half over, and with white hair streaming down to her shoulders, she approached the table.

Claudia screamed when she saw her and the Senator trembled. People were very superst.i.tious in those days, and the Old One was known to be a prophetess.

Aurelius left his place.

"What dost thou desire, Mother?" he asked.

She lifted to him eyes filled with a strange light. The gray mantle she wore fell away from her skinny arm as she raised it high.

"Woe! woe to the house of Luca.n.u.s!" she cried shrilly. "Your feasting shall be turned into sorrow, your rejoicing shall be changed into mourning and the voice of weeping shall be heard, a mother weeping for her daughter, a father bemoaning the loss of his children, a bridegroom grieving over a lost bride. Woe! Woe!"

Virgilia and her mother were clinging to each other. The Senator was pallid and shaking with fear.

"Woe! woe to the house of Luca.n.u.s!" wailed the aged woman, and would have fallen if Martius had not caught her in his strong arms.

The slaves, frightened, had gathered in the doorway. At a sign from Aurelius, they carried her away, while Sahira tried to a.s.sist Virgilia to calm her mother.

"She is very aged," explained the lawyer.

"She must be crazy," energetically remarked the Senator, demanding his chair.

When he had gone away, and Claudia was in bed, with Virgilia, by her side, the lawyer sat a long time in his little room and thought.

What was this woe that the Old One had prophesied for him and his household?

As the light of a rosy dawn bathed the world in the beauty of a promised day, he arose.

"She must be crazy," he said, repeating the Senator's words.

But he did not forget.

VI.

THE FEAST OF THE GRAPES.

Suns.h.i.+ne and laughter came after clouds and sadness. It was natural that the effects of the Old One's strange words should pa.s.s away and be almost forgotten, except by the lawyer, who feared disaster. He did what for him was a novel thing. He made an offering to Jupiter. After all, there might be something in this wors.h.i.+p of the G.o.ds; it was safer to be on the right side.

It was a gift of money that he made, a large gift, for Luca.n.u.s was prosperous and received many sesterces of gold from the imperial treasury, besides having a lucrative practice. Being so large a gift, he decided to present it in person and get full credit for his piety and devotion to the G.o.ds.

So, on a morning, a week later, accompanied by Alexis, the Greek slave, who followed Christus--though this was not known--he went to the main door of the temple in the Forum and boldly asked for the Lycidon, chief priest of Jupiter.

"Wait thou here," he commanded, and Alexis seated himself on the steps, watching the busy crowds pa.s.sing by.

It was a feast-day, and a white bull, hung with flowers was being led through the Sacred Way to a shrine where the people would wors.h.i.+p him as possessing the spirit of a great G.o.d. Everything was a G.o.d to the Romans, even trees and animals were possessed of spirit.

Alexis looked at the bull and the procession of priests following it; at the dancing girls and the motley crowd of men and women. He prayed to Almighty G.o.d that he might show these poor deluded beings the better way to Eternal Life.

The tall superior was more gracious to the lawyer who brought rich gifts than he had been to the slave Alyrus. When he learned the name of the donor, he was still more suave and his eyes were very keen.

"Thy name shall go down to all generations as a faithful follower of the G.o.ds," he said, laying aside the golden chalice and purse of gold pieces. "In these days when Rome is filled with new doctrines and heretics are found on every side, it is cheering to know that the learned lawyer Aurelius Luca.n.u.s gives richly to the G.o.ds."

But when Luca.n.u.s had gone away, flattered, yet relieved to get out of those dismal corridors into the brilliant October suns.h.i.+ne, the priest smiled, a cruel smile of one who meditates evil. Alexis rose from his seat on the steps and followed his master to his office.

Claudia, in the excitement of preparing a handsome outfit for Virgilia, forgot the Old One's words entirely and recovered her health marvellously. She was very affectionate to Virgilia and her offense was no more mentioned, nor was she required to wors.h.i.+p the G.o.ds. Her mother left this fever to run its course and be healed by new scenes and costly jewels.

Even Virgilia, herself, grew interested in the preparations for her departure to her husband's house, which had been fixed for a day in November, when the religious ceremony should take place. There were cedar chests to be filled with piles of linen, woven by the slaves.

One very handsome oak marriage chest was full of silks and gauzes of much price, brought on the s.h.i.+ps which sailed up the Tiber from the port of Ostia, on their return from Egypt.

A copper box held jewels, set in Etruscan gold, exquisitely chased by the cunning hands of workers in the Way of the Goldsmiths. There were opals, s.h.i.+mmering in the sunrays, alive with inner fires of flame-color.

There were diamonds, half-cut, and pearls found in the Ganges, with emeralds and sapphires, rubies and garnets, many of them gifts from friends to whom announcements of the betrothal had been sent on ivory tablets engraved in blue.

Claudia lifted out the diadem which the emperor, himself, had caused to be brought to their door by a train of slaves, thus calling attention to their high social standing in the eyes of all the neighbors.

When the Senator gave Virgilia a necklace of diamonds to match those in the diadem sent by Caesar, Claudia felt that her cup was full of happiness. Even Virgilia was pleased and for the moment, being young and fond of pretty things, forgot that the Christian maiden should be unadorned save by her own modesty.

Martius was the gravest of the family. Now that Virgilia was so occupied that she could not go to the meetings of the Christians, although this had always been difficult for her, he went alone, or joined Hermione and Marcus. From them and other Christians he heard news which greatly alarmed him. There were rumors of an uprising against the followers of Christ. It was said that the priests of Jupiter were arousing the senators and even the emperor to a sense of the danger in which the government would find itself if these heretics were allowed to increase as they were doing at the present time.

The Senator Adrian Soderus, who visited the lawyer and his wife frequently and in view of the coming marriage was permitted to see Virgilia, confirmed the news, entirely unaware of the fact that both his betrothed and her brother Martius belonged to the despised people.

"They multiply like rats," he said, sipping from a silver goblet the sweet orange juice Sahira prepared. "And like rats they live in holes in the ground. There they hold their wicked meetings and form their impious designs. They are a menace to Rome and must be destroyed."

"Ought I to tell him?" Virgilia asked her brother after one of these conversations.

"How do I know, dearest? It is for father to speak, and he does not. I fear--I fear. Yet, if thou art once married to him, he is bound to protect thee. Thou wilt surely be safe."

"But thou--and Hermione--and--Marcus?"

"G.o.d is all-powerful. We are in his hands."

There came the messenger from the Lady Octavia bearing a pearl anklet as a wedding gift to Virgilia with many greetings and good wishes. And if it were possible, would they all come "to celebrate the Feast of the Grapes, in five days?"

"I will not go," said Claudia. "The Lady Octavia is not to my liking."

"Nor I," added Aurelius, "but we must not be discourteous, she is a good client. It will be an enjoyable feast in this fine weather.

Virgilia's cheeks are too pale. She and Martius shall go."

On the day of the Feast, Virgilia was glad to go out into the fresh air, to leave the seamstresses busy sewing in the inner courtyard.

They were embroidering fine garments of silk so soft that it could be drawn through a ring. They were hemming and drawing threads, draping and cutting the rich material from Tyre which was to form part of Virgilia's wedding outfit.