But the sensations caused by such a prospect are rather for the breast of the stranger of a northern clime than for our Roman Afer, for whom life‐ long familiarity with the scenes described had blunted his appreciation of their beauty. Although his glance appeared to be earnestly fixed upon the opposing shore across the strait, his eyes retained that far‐away expression which is produced by absorbing thought. There was sufficient within the narrow limits of the island at his back to occupy his thoughts, as it did those of the whole political world. For, in the palaces which gleamed on the summits of the hills or amid the groves of that insular retreat, were the persons of the despot himself, whose touch ruled the world; of the all‐powerful, ambitious Prefect, who, as it was darkly hinted, ruled his master—as well as others of blood royal, whose youth and close affinity with Caesar rendered them the objects of a too jealous care. But to these the mind of the knight did not at present pay any heed. His thoughts were running back to the villa on the Janiculum overlooking Rome, and were recalling the circumstances recorded in a previous chapter. The strong interest displayed by his uncle in the young Centurion gave him many a moment of uneasy mistrust. Not willing to allow the smallest communication to pass unobserved, if his jealous watchfulness could avoid it, he had stolen after the new‐made friends towards the porch, and had there overheard the parting words of the aged host to his guest: ‘I shall await your return in impatience, for I long to make a son of you.’ They rang in his ears with discomforting freshness, and his face grew darker the more he pondered on them. They had been made in a generous impulse of courtesy and gratitude, he argued. It was absurd to take them literally, even though the meddlesome Pretorian had proved to be the son of an old playmate. Thus the knight proceeded, as he had often done before, in trying to soothe himself; but the logic of his arguments failed to entirely satisfy his apprehensive nature.