But the lady embraced him, and kissed him, and asked a thousand things about him, as tenderly as if she had been his mother.
[48] Senior Vestals.
[49] A diminutive of endearment.
Fabia the Vestal was now about thirty-seven years of age.

One and thirty years before had the Pontifex Maximus chosen her out--a little girl--to become the priestess of Vesta, the hearth-goddess, the home-goddess of Pagan Rome.

Fabia had dwelt almost all her life in the house of the Vestals.

Her very existence had become identified with the little sisterhood, which she and her five associates composed.

It was a rather isolated yet singularly pure and peaceful life which she had led.