"Once another maid slept here," said Julia with a sigh, glancing at the
white bed in the corner.
"Yes," said Miriam, "she was named Flavia, was she not, your only child?
Nay, do not be astonished. I have heard so much of her that I seem to
have known her well, who can be known no more--here."
"Did Gallus tell you?" asked Julia. "He used rarely to speak of her."
Miriam nodded. "Gallus told me. You see he was very good to me and we
became friends. For all that he has done, may Heaven bless him, who,
although he seems rough, has so kind a heart."
"Yes, may Heaven bless all of us, living and dead," answered Julia. Then
she kissed Miriam and left her to her rest.
When Miriam came out of her bedchamber on the following morning, she
found Gallus clad in his body armour, now new cleaned, though dinted
with many a blow, standing in the court and watching the water which
squirted from a leaden pipe to fall into a little basin.
"Greeting, daughter," he said, looking up. "I trust that you have rested
well beneath my roof who have sojourned so long in tents."
"Very well," she answered, adding, "If I might ask it, why do you wear
your mail here in peaceful Rome?"
"Because I am summoned to have an audience of Caesar, now within an
hour.
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