Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/125

ger in these parts." As she uttered these words, her eye fixed with an earnest and anxious gaze upon the countenance of him she addressed. It was her husband, whom she now for the first time recollected; and she threw herself at his feet unable to contain her joy. "My lord," cried the enraptured matron, "I entreat you to relate some circumstances of your past life; for unless I greatly mistake, you are Placidus, the master of the soldiery, since known by the name of Eustacius, whom our blessed Saviour converted, and tried by such and such temptations: I am his wife, taken from him at sea by a perfidious wretch, but who accomplished not his atrocious purposes. I had two sons, called Agapetus and Theosbytus." The tenor of these words recalled Eustacius to himself; time and sorrow had made much change in both, but the recognition was full of happiness. They embraced and wept; giving glory to God as the God of all consolation. The wife then observed, "My lord, what has become of our children?" "Alas!" replied he, "they were carried off by wild beasts;" and