The time spent with Valerius seemed to pass too quickly, yet also seemed to drag; he enjoyed the boy's company very much, and yet was frustrated that the injuries to his arm and leg prevented them from a fuller expression of their growing attraction! Philandros' eyes took in the statuary in the garden, the many flowers and bushes so artfully arranged, and the soft music of flute and lyre which was playing from the surrounding colonnade.

"I can't wait until I am able to walk again!" he sighed. When Valerius raised a questioning brow, Philandros continued. "The physician says I should be about in a month or two...but I must not stress the leg and arm too much then. You will make sure I behave, won't you?" Philandros said this with an evil grin.

During a pause in their conversation, he saw Valerius' sister walking in the shadows, eyeing them as she went by. In the middle afternoon, Philandros asked if Valerius would read to him, and the request was gladly accepted. The roman dashed off somewhere inside the villa to fetch a scroll, and returned with a copy of Ovid's love poems!

At one point, the steward approached to ask if the two boys wished to eat dinner in the garden, and only then did Philandros realize how soon the day had passed into evening--and Olaf had not yet returned! He hoped nothing bad had happened to the german, and a slight worry arose when he recalled that he was with Giton.

"You must stay to dine with us, Philon!" The entreaty in Valerius' voice was all too plain, and the greek felt sorry that his would-be lover had so few friends that he hungered for the company of a crippled bookworm! Philandros reached out with his good hand, and rubbed the roman's arm.

"Of course I'll stay--let's eat here where we can watch the first stars when they come out!" Philandros smiled fondly at his friend. "I was just wondering where Olaf was--he should have been back by now!"

Valerius looked anything but unhappy at the german's absence--it gave him more time to be with his dearest!