This story by Henryk Sienkiewicz, is of interest as it can be considered the germ, so to speak, of Quo Vadis, which is among one of the most noteworthy of novels and has won a large audience as well in Europe as in America. It is the tale of Cains Septimus Cunia, a Roman patrician, rich, splendid, luxury-loving; who, sated with the life of Rome, travels to Alexandria, and there loves and weds a beautiful woman - Autea, daughter of Timon the sage. The intense and all-possessing passion of Cunia for his wife revolutionizes his life and nature. Autea falls ill, and in the hope of cure they journey to Jerusalem, arriving on the eve of the Crucifixion. It is a strange, beautiful little story, full of suggestion and pictures, and of possibilities, with the peculiar charm of which Sienkiewicz only of his generation possesses the secret.