Marcellus related to his attentive auditors all the particulars of his conversion at Rome, and the various events which had since that time strengthened and confirmed his faith. And from Claudia and Naomi he learned the interesting story of their spiritual birth and admission into the church of Christ. Naomi did not dwell on what she had suffered, or the trials to which her faith had once been subjected; but Claudia was eloquent in describing the piety and the firmness of her friend, and the benefit which she herself had derived from her consistent character and holy life and conversation. All this was music to the ears of Marcellus. He had loved Naomi when he was a mere boy, and as he grew to manhood he loved her more and more. And after he had left Jerusalem, and entered into the gaieties and business of life, he still looked back with fond remembrance to the time when she was his constant companion; and her image was ever present to his heart and his memory. Never during his residence at Rome, or his subsequent wanderings, had he seen a being who could compare with the Jewish maiden, and all his hopes of future happiness were connected with her. Many were the fruitless schemes which he had at various times devised for getting admission into Jerusalem and seeing her again, and when he found that he was to have the happiness of meeting her at Joppa, his anxiety and impatience knew no bounds. But still there was one ever-recurring thought that damped his hopes and checked his desire of seeing her. He believed that Naomi was a Jewess in religion as well as by birth. She was the daughter of Zadok, the zealous Pharisee, the sister of the fanatical Javan; and could he ever hope that she would return the affection of a Gentile, and still worse, of a Nazarene? and even if she should yet remember him with the same feelings that she entertained for him in former days, was it probable that her father would consent to bestow her on a Roman soldier; or would his own conscience allow him to seek a union with one who could not share his most sacred feelings, and who would despise what he held most dear and holy? All these reflections rose strongly to his mind when he did again behold her, and almost made him regret that she appeared yet more lovely and more interesting than his memory had depicted her. But now to find that all his worst fears were unfounded, and that Naomi was like himself, a Christian, was greater happiness than he had ever dared to hope.