Paulus soothed him with gentle words, and told him of the errand on which he had sent the lad to the farther coast of the sea.
We are never better disposed to be satisfied with even bad news than when we have expected it to be much worse; so Stephanus listened to his friend's explanation quite calmly, and with signs of approval.

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.
He had devoted himself and his son to a life of penance, hoping and striving that so Glycera's soul might be snatched from damnation, and now he knew that she herself had earned her title to Heaven.
"When will he come home again ?" he asked Paulus.
"In five or six days," was the answer.

"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as I was going to church yesterday, that the Blemmyes are gathering behind the sulphur-mountains; when they have withdrawn, it will be high time to send Hermas to Alexandria.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." "He may attend the school of catechumens in the metropolis, and if he--if he--" "That we shall see," interrupted Paulus.

"For the present it comes to this, we must let him go from hence, and leave him to seek out his own way.