The Roman looked after her, and as she passed by Hadrian's statue, and, as she did so, dropped her head rather lower than before, he roughly ordered her to stop and to tell him why she had averted her face from the statue of Caesar. "Hadrian is our ruler as well as yours," answered the young girl. "I am in haste for there are sick people on the island." "You will bring them no good!" cried the beggar. "Who knows what is hidden there in the basket?" "Silence!" interrupted the tribune. "They say, girl that your fellow- believers overthrew the statue of Caesar in the night." "How should that be? We honor Caesar no less than you do." "I will believe you, and you shall prove it. There stands the statue of the divine Caesar. Come with me and worship it." Selene looked with horror in the face of the stern man, and could not find a word of reply. "Well!" asked the captain, "will you come? Yes or no?" Selene struggled for self-possession, and when the soldier held out his hand to her she said with a trembling voice: "We honor the Emperor but we pray to no statue--only to our Father in Heaven." "There you have it!" laughed the beggar. "Once more I ask you," cried the tribune. "Will you worship this statue, or do you refuse to do so?" A fearful struggle possessed Selene's soul. If she resisted the Roman her life was in danger, and the fury of the populace would be aroused against her fellow-believers--if, on the other hand, she obeyed him, she would be blaspheming God, breaking her faith to the Saviour who loved her, sinning against the truth and her own conscience. A fearful dread fell upon her, and deprived her of the power to lift her soul in prayer. She could not, she dared not, do what was required of her, and yet the overweening love of life which exists in every mortal led her feet to the base of the idol and there stayed her steps. "Lift up your hands and worship the divine Caesar," cried the tribune, who with the rest of the lookers-on had watched her movements with keen excitement. Trembling, she set her basket on the ground and tried to withdraw her hand from her brother's; but the blind boy held it fast. He fully understood what was required of his sister, he knew full well, from the history of many martyrs that had been told him, what fate awaited her and him if they resisted the Roman's demand; but he felt no fear and whispered to her: "We will not obey his desires Martha; we will not pray to idols, we will cling faithfully to the Redeemer. Turn me away from the image, and I will say 'Our Father.'" With a loud voice and his lustreless eyes upraised to Heaven, the boy said the Lord's prayer. Selene had first set his face towards the river, and then she herself turned her back on the statue; then, lifting her hands, she followed the child's example. Helios clung to her closely, her loudly uttered prayer was one with his, and neither of them saw or heard anything more of what befell them.