And, indeed, I also would fain remain innocent, and yet how can that be when I cannot help being devoted to Polykarp, and yet I am another man's wife.

But am I indeed the true and lawful wife of that horrible wretch who sold me to another?
He is as far from my heart--as far as if I had never seen him with these eyes.

And yet--believe me--I wish him no ill, and I will be quite content, if only I need never go back to him.
"When I was a child, I was afraid of frogs; my brothers and sisters knew it, and once my brother Licinius laid a large one, that he had caught, on my bare neck.

I started, and shuddered, and screamed out loud, for it was so hideously cold and damp--I cannot express it.

And that is exactly how I have always felt since those days in Rome whenever Phoebicius touched me, and yet I dared not scream when he did.
"But Polykarp! oh! would that he were here, and might only grasp my hand.