“My brother Casca, Claudius, good, faithful Ebba, I shall see them soon! Hermione, in a few short years this temple will be deserted, the company of Vestals will be broken up, for the Sun has risen far above the horizon, and He has called the nations into His marvellous light.” Then she wandered on, no longer of the present, but of the past. The cruel death of Alban, which was prominent in her childish dreams, the departure of Ebba, the vow Claudius had sworn. “Good Claudius,” she repeated, “good Claudius; and he kept that vow. Ah! yes; good, brave Claudius!” Hermione and her devoted servants watched over her that night, and her strength rapidly declined. There was almost universal sorrow shown when it became known that the Vestal Maxima was dying. All the great Roman families sent representatives to the Vestals’ House to inquire as to her condition. The young children, the lately-received disciples, were in tears; the newly-consecrated Vestals went sorrowfully about their work, striving to perform their duties for the sake of her, who would never again give them the benefit of her counsel and advice. The whole community passed in one by one to bid her a farewell. She smiled on them as they knelt by her side, and murmured words which were hardly intelligible. Cœlia Concordia came last. She dreaded the interview, and would fain have avoided it; but Hyacintha asked for her again and again. Proudly and haughtily she stood by the couch of the dying Vestal. Her dark eyes looked down on the beautiful face before her, without a shadow of tenderness or sympathy in them. Hyacintha smiled, and said to Hermione:-- “Tell her to stoop down; I want to say something to her.” Cœlia obeyed, unwillingly enough, and to her surprise she caught the words:-- “May the God whom I love in Christ fill you with peace. With my last breath I pray Him for your conversion.” But the proud Vestal, wrapt in the impenetrable mantle of her own self-assertion and self-exaltation, did not respond. She turned away, whispering to herself:-- “It is true, then, she _is_ a Christian!” Nevertheless, so greatly was Hyacintha Severa honoured, that the Council, who met the day after she had appeared before them, handed over to the sculptor the inscription for the pedestal on which her statue stood, with its high praise of her virtues and her services. She had failed in no duty; nothing but good was spoken of her by any of her companions, with two exceptions, of whom Cœlia Concordia was one, and the priest who had hinted at hidden motives, that might have brought about the resignation of the Vestal Maxima, another.