Little did the lad, reared in a pagan home, know of the sweetness of the Christian faith, for which Timokles had forsaken all.
Heraklas' small sister, the child Cocce, sat on the pavement in the central court of her home in Alexandria.

Above her towered three palms that shaded the court.

Beside the little girl was an Egyptian toy, the figure of a man kneading dough.

The man would work, if a string were pulled, but Cocce had thrown the toy aside.

Lower and lower sank the small, brown head, more and more sleepily closed the large, brown eyes, till the child drooped against a stone table that was supported by the stone figure of a captive, bending beneath the weight of the table's top.
As Heraklas entered the court his eyes fell upon his sleeping little sister, but he noted more closely the stone captive against which she leaned.