CHAPTER XXIII.

HEN Orestes and Alypius entered the apartment of Arsinoë, no one could have guessed from the demeanour of the priest that he had so lately been the subject of such violent emotions, or that his feelings towards his sister were sufficiently strong to have so greatly overcome his habitual self-command.

He met her kindly, indeed; but an expression of austere displeasure soon drove away the smile of welcome that at first adorned it, and struck joy into the heart of Claudia.

The priest speedily made his sister feel that no one could be allowed to hold any place in his affections who was not true to the gods whom he served. He expressed a certain degree of interest in all that concerned her personally, and manifested a certain amount of sympathy in her sufferings and her bereavements; but he repressed all sign of emotion, and he advised his sister to hasten her departure from the holy island.

To her request that Medora might return to Alexandria with her and Alypius, she received a very decided negative both from Orestes and the abbess; who were perfectly agreed on the subject of her remaining in her present position of seclusion and safety, until she was summoned by her father to ratify the engagement which he had made for her.

The countenance of Medora fell at this decision; and yet

she had scarcely dared to hope that she would be permitted to escape from what she had for some time past begun to feel a painful bondage, and to travel back to her home with her sister. Difficulties and trials seemed now to surround her, and she knew not how to avoid them. Each day she found that her feelings were less in unison with the forms and ceremonies in which she still continued to join. Her soul was aspiring more and more towards a purer religionand a more exalted standard than any that she had hitherto known.

The conversation of the abbess and her young companions had long ceased to interest her, for they could not enter into the workings of her mind; and the slightest allusion to Christianity was received with horror and contempt by these devoted adherents to idolatry.

The instructions of her brother were even more irksome to her than the superstitious legends which Arsinoë was never weary of relating to her scholars: for Orestes tried to lead her into abstruse mysteries, and to occupy her active, practical mind with abstract reasoning and visionary speculations, such as he himself delighted in, but of which she had discovered the utter futility.

These subjects had formerly attracted Medora's attention to a considerable degree; and she had found pleasure in listening to her brother's mystical theories and strange anticipations for the future. So promising a pupil had he found her during her former residence at Philæ, that he had sometimes regretted his father's not having yielded to her desire to become a priestess in the sacred island. Had he foreseen what would eventually be her choice, he would have employed all his influence both

with her and with his parents to preserve so bright an ornament to the service of Isis. But, happily for Medora, her fate was in higher and wiser hands than those of Orestes; and she was not to be left in the darkness and degradation of heathenism. The Lord had opened for her "a door of hope," and no man could close it.

Both Arsinoe and Orestes did all they could to prevent Medora from holding private converse with her sister or with Alypius; but the zeal and affection of Claudia were not to be baffled. She had undertaken the journey to Phila with the one object of trying to rescue her beloved sister from the bonds. of a deadly superstition, and no personal considerations could deter her from the attempt. She knew enough of the bigoted fanaticism and the unscrupulous conduct of many of the sacerdotal order to be well aware of the risk she had run in even venturing into the consecrated island; and she was not insensible to the still greater danger which she would incur, if she were suspected of trying to tamper with the faith of Medora. But her sister's soul was more precious to her than even her own life, and she lost no opportunity of urging upon her the blessed and glorious truths of the gospel.

Sometimes she contrived to be alone with Medora for a short time, during the absence of their aunt on official business; but one of the scholars was generally placed as a watch upon her on these occasions, and she was obliged to converse with her sister in the language of Rome, which they both understood. Alypius also occasionally joined in these interesting discussions; and his earnest and manly eloquence went far in convincing Medora of the fallacy of her hereditary religion, and the truth

of those doctrines, for the sake of which one so highly gifted had renounced the opinions of his teachers, his fellowstudents, and the most learned philosophers of the civilized world.

But these meetings were few and brief; and not many days after their arrival in Philæ, Alypius and Claudia were informed by Orestes that they must depart. The agitated greeting between Medora and her sister in the great temple had been observed, and abundantly commented upon, by some of the priestesses, as well as by her own young companions, all of whom were well aware that the elder niece of the respected abbess was an outcast from her family, and a recreant from her national religion.

The young sisterhood were one and all so much attached to Medora, that for her sake they made no remarks on the illtimed meeting, or on the exclamation by which she had betrayed the name of Claudia, and recalled her apostasy. They would have aided their friend in any plans by which the long-separated sisters might have enjoyed more of each other's society; and the one who was set as a spy over them by Arsinoë never revealed the fact that their conversation was incomprehensible to her, and that her office was therefore a sinecure.

There were, however, others among the spectators of the sisters' meeting who were not influenced by such kindly feelings. The scene in the temple was repeated, with many significant comments, to the ruling priests in the island; and before Orestes was aware that his sister's arrival was known beyond her aunt's dwelling, a council had been

privately held to which he was not invited; and very decided measures were determined upon with regard to the heretical intruders.

Imprisonment in some of the mysterious dungeons of the temple was suggested as a proper punishment for the audacity of Claudia and her companion in entering the sacred building during the celebration of the solemn service; and it was even hinted by one of the most zealous, that it might be prudent to prevent the return of Claudia to the outer world, by either compelling her to become a consecrated assistant in the temple of Isis; or, if she should prove refractory, by disposing of her and her companion in a very summary manner.

Very little opposition was made to this proposal; for the feeling against Christianity and all who professed it was very strong in Philæ. There was, however, one friend of Orestes present, who ventured to object to such cruel treatment; but his opinion was disregarded, and it was resolved that the presumptuous strangers should be secured, and dealt with as the Egyptian sacerdotal law permitted.

It was agreed to effect the capture of Claudia and Alypius before making Orestes aware of the intention; for he was known to be of a more humane disposition than the rest of his fraternity, and they feared he would not lend his aid to their scheme. Then, when the intended victims were in their power, they proposed to use his influence with his sister to induce her to renounce her new faith. If this could be done by gentle means, it would be well; but if Claudia should display the firmness which had been shown by so many of her sect, then other measures might be resorted to, which no