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"Ali, the fisherman out of whose foot I took a thorn some time since informed me secretly, as I was going to church yesterday, that the Blemmyes are gathering behind the sulphur- mountains; when they have withdrawn, it will be high time to send Hermas to Alexandria. My brother is still alive, and for my sake he will receive him as a blood-relation, for he too has been baptized."
"Be thankful," said he, "poor dear woman I have found you in a fortunate hour. I am Paulus, Hermas' best friend, and I would willingly serve you in your sore need. No danger is now threatening you, for Phoebicius is seeking you on a wrong road; you may trust me. Look at me! I do not look as if I could betray a poor erring woman.
Hermas went shyly and timidly towards the court of Petrus' house, and his embarrassment increased when he found himself in the hall of the stately stone-house, which he had entered without let or hindrance, and did not know which way to turn. There was no one there to direct him, and he dared not go up the stairs which led to the upper story, although it seemed that Petrus must be there.
These questions about unseen things, perhaps about unreal things, these restraints and duties and sacrifices if I were only free from them all, and could only forget them all, then I could live my life as I pleased, and be happy." "Why not?" said a quiet voice at his back. "How is it that you answer that which has not been spoken?" said Hermas; "and who are you that honour me with your company?"
She rose quickly and looked into the court, while Petrus, who had followed her, did the same, saying with a deep sigh, as he turned to Marthana who, while she offered meat and bread to Hermas was watching her parents " It was only the slave Anubis." For some time a painful silence reigned round the large table, to-day so sparely furnished with guests.
He could no longer conceal from himself that Hermas was not ripe for the life of an anchorite, and since he had learned that his unhappy wife whom he had so long given up for lost had died a Christian, he found that he could reconcile his thoughts to relinquishing the boy to the world.
Hermas felt that he was outstripping his pursuer, and was making ready for a spring over a block of stone that encumbered the path, when he heard his name called behind him, and he stood still, for he recognized the voice of the man from whom he was flying as that of his good friend Paulus. "You indeed" said the Alexandrian, panting for breath.
Hermas well understood what the anchorite meant, for his father often for hours at a time gazed up into Heaven in prayer, neither seeing nor hearing what was going on around him, and was wont to relate to his son, when he awoke from his ecstatic vision, that he had seen the Lord or heard the angel-choir.
He had certainly seen some old anchorites, who led a contemplative and penitential life up on the sacred mountain, but it had never occurred to him that a strong youth could be long to the brotherhood of hermits. So he said to him kindly: "Hermas is that your name? We all use our hands here and labor is no disgrace; what is your handicraft?"
He found the shutters of the sleeping-room open; where Sirona had been sitting on the seat looking at the moon, before Hermas had come upon the scene. "Then she is not here!" he muttered, and setting the lamp on the little table, from which he had just now flung Polykarp's glass, he tore open the door, and hurried into the courtyard.
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