“The battle-field is everywhere, perhaps at its hardest here at the heart of the corruption,” Fabricius said, laying his hand on the young man’s shoulder, yet with evident pride in his proposal. “Did we not see a portion of it as we came home to-night?” “Where? What?” said Lucia. “We were delayed in passing one of the basilicas,” said Fabricius; “there was a midnight service—we are still, you remember, in the octave of Easter. A procession of priests was coming out, and some of the troops of revellers around us were excited with wine, and there were rough jests, when the Bishop Leo himself appeared, and the noisiest revellers shrank away ashamed, and all was quiet.” “Indeed, every one bows before Bishop Leo,” Marius said. “Yes,” said Fabricius; “since the time of his election, when, during his absence on a mission of peace-making in Gaul, our impatient, restless Rome waited forty days tranquilly for his return, every one knows who is the true shepherd and ruler of Rome.” “His battle-field is the oratory and the basilica,” said Damaris softly, “and therefore his presence brings peace to the world and to the city.” Marius’ face lighted up, and he exclaimed— “Then if Bishop Leo counselled that the post on the battle-field for me was on the frontier, face to face with the Huns, you would be content that I should go?” “I must go to Bishop Leo’s own secret battle-field myself,” she said, “before I can answer thee.” [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER III. YOUNG IN AN OLD WORLD. There was little sleep for Damaris that night. The sun was just beginning to gild the palaces on the Aventine, and the sounds of labour had scarcely begun to stir on the busy quays of the Tiber below, when the mother rose and went to what she had called the battle-field of Leo, the secret place of prayer, which for her was usually the half-ruined oratory in the palace, where once had arisen the prayers and praises of Jerome and Marcella, and the Ecclesia Domestica. “Thou knowest,” she prayed, “O All-seeing, how I have asked that he might be kept from temptation, the temptations of this corrupt city. If this is Thy way of escape, from the seductions of the city to the battle-field of the nations, among the perils of the frontier, let him go! Better the spears and arrows of the barbarians than the fangs of the serpents around us here, the malaria of the seven hills, the festering cancer of this wicked court, at the heart of the Empire, poisoning the very springs of life! If this is Thy way of escape for him, O Father of all the fathers and mothers of the world, not for a moment would I hold him back. Take him for Thy hard warfare! Only show him when and how!” As she came back through the wilderness of roses which led to the house, there was a wonderful lightness in her step, and brightness in her eyes. Lucia was watching her from the porch, and ran to meet her. “Hast thou been taking counsel of the bishop already?” she said.