[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of thefile for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making anentire meal of them. D. W. ]

THE BRIDE OF THE NILE

By Georg Ebers

Volume 2. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Pangs of soul and doubtings of conscience had, in fact, prompted thegovernor to purchase the hanging and he therefore might have been glad ifit had cost him still dearer. The greater the gift the better foundedhis hope of grace and favor from the recipient! And he had grounds forbeing uneasy and for asking himself whether he had acted rightly. Revenge was no Christian virtue, but to let the evil done to him by theMelchites go unpunished when the opportunity offered for crushing themwas more than he could bring himself to. Nay, what father whose twobright young sons had been murdered, but would have done as he did? Thatfearful blow had struck him in a vital spot. Since that day he had felthimself slowly dying; and that sense of weakness, those desperatetremors, the discomforts and suffering which blighted every hour of hislife, were also to be set down to the account of the Melchite tyrants. 

His waning powers had indeed only been kept up by his original vigor andhis burning thirst for revenge, and fate had allowed him to quench it ina way which, as time went on, seemed too absolute to his peace-lovingnature. Though not indeed by his act, still with his complicity he sawthe Byzantine Empire bereft of the rich province which Caesar hadentrusted to his rule, saw the Greeks and everything that bore the nameof Melchite driven out of Egypt with ignominy--though he would gladlyhave prevented it--in many places slain like dogs by the furious populacewho hailed the Moslems as their deliverers. 

Thus all the evil he had invoked on the murderers of his children and theoppressors and torturers of his people had come upon them; his revengewas complete. But, in the midst of his satisfaction at this strangefulfilment of the fervent wish of years, his conscience had lifted up itsvoice; new, and hitherto unknown terrors had come upon him. He lackedthe strength of mind to be a hero or a reformer. Too great an event hadbeen wrought through his agency, too fearful a doom visited on thousandsof men! The Christian Faith--to him the highest consideration--had beentoo greatly imperilled by his act, for the thought that he had caused allthis to be calmly endurable. The responsibility proved too heavy for hisshoulders; and whenever he repeated to himself that it was not he who hadinvited the Arabs into the land, and that he must have been crushed inthe attempt to repel them, he could hear voices all round him denouncinghim as the man who had surrendered his native land to them, and hefancied himself environed by dangers--believing those who spoke to him ofassassins sent forth by the Byzantines to kill him. --But even moreappalling, was his dread of the wrath of Heaven against the man who hadbetrayed a Christian country to the Infidels. Even his consciousness ofhaving been, all his life long, a right-minded, just man could notfortify him against this terror; there was but one thing which couldraise his quelled spirit: the white pillules which had long been asindispensable to him as air and water. The kind-hearted old bishop ofMemphis, Plotinus, and his clergy had forgiveness for all; the PatriarchBenjamin, on the contrary, had treated him as a reprobate sentenced toeternal damnation, though at the time of this prelate's exile in thedesert he had hailed the Arabs as their deliverers from the tyranny ofthe Melchites, and though George had principally contributed to hisrecall and reinstatement, and had therefore counted on his support. And, although the Mukaukas could clearly see through the secondary motiveswhich influenced the Patriarch, he nevertheless believed that Benjamin'soffice as Shepherd of souls gave him power to close the Gates of Heavenagainst any sheep in his flock. 

The more firmly the Arabs took root in his land, the wiser their rule, and the, more numerous the Egyptian converts from the Cross to theCrescent, the greater he deemed his guilt; and when, after theaccomplishment of his work of vengeance--his double treason as the Greekscalled it--instead of the wrath of God, everything fell to his lot whichmen call happiness and the favors of fortune, the superstitious manfeared lest this was the wages of the Devil, into whose clutches hishasty compact with the Moslems had driven so many Christian souls. 

He had unexpectedly fallen heir to two vast estates, and his excavatorsin the Necropolis had found more gold in the old heathen tombs than allthe others put together. The Moslem Khaliff and his viceroy had left himin office and shown him friendship and respect; the bulaites--[Towncouncillors]--of the town had given him the cognomen of "the Just" byacclamation of the whole municipality; his lands had never yieldedgreater revenues; he received letters from his son's widow in her conventfull of happiness over the new and higher aims in life that she hadfound; his grandchild, her daughter, was a creature whose bright andlovely blossoming was a joy even to strangers; his son's frequentepistles from Constantinople assured him that he was making progress inall respects; and he did not forget his parents; for he was never wearyof reporting to them, of his own free impulse, every, pleasure he enjoyedand every success he won. 

Thus even in a foreign land he had lived with the father and mother whoto him were all that was noblest and dearest. 

And Paula! Though his wife could not feel warmly towards her the old manregarded her presence in the house as a happy dispensation to which heowed many a pleasant hour, not only over the draughts-board. 

All these things might indeed be the wages of Satan; but if indeed itwere so, he--George the Mukaukas--would show the Evil One that he was noservant of his, but devoted to the Saviour in whose mercy he trusted. With what fervent gratitude to the Almighty was his soul filled for thereturn of such a son! Every impulse of his being urged him to giveexpression to this feeling; his terrors and gratitude alike prompted himto spend so vast a sum in order to dedicate a matchless gift to theChurch of Christ. He viewed himself as a prisoner of war whose ransomhas just been paid, as he handed to the merchant the tablet with theorder for the money; and when he was carried to bed, and his wife was notyet weary of thanking him for his pious intention, he felt happier andmore light-hearted than he had done for many years. Generally he couldhear Paula walking up and down her room which was over his; for she wentlate to rest, and in the silence of the night would indulge in sweet andpainful memories. How many loved ones a cruel fate had snatched fromher! Father, brother, her nearest relations and friends; all at once, bythe hand of the Moslems to whom he had abandoned her native land almostwithout resistance. 

"I do not hear Paula to-night, " he remarked, glancing up as though hemissed something. "The poor child has no doubt gone to bed early afterwhat passed. "

"Leave her alone!" said Neforis who did not like to be interrupted inher jubilant effusiveness, and she shrugged her shoulders angrily. "Howshe behaved herself again! We have heard a great deal too much aboutcharity, and though I do not want to boast of my own I am very ready toexercise it--indeed, it is no more than my duty to show every kindnessto a destitute relation of yours. But this girl! She tries me too far, and after all I am no more than human. I can have no pleasure in herpresence; if she comes into the room I feel as though misfortune hadcrossed the threshold. Besides!--You never see such things; but Orionthinks of her a great deal more than is good. I only wish she had beensafe out of the house!"

"Neforis!" her husband said in mild reproach; and he would have reprovedher more sharply but that since he had become a slave to opium he hadlost all power of asserting himself vigorously whether in small mattersor great. 

Ere long the Mukaukas had fallen into an uneasy sleep; but he opened hiseyes more frequently than usual. He missed the light footfall overheadto which he had been accustomed for these two years past; but she who waswont to pace the floor above half the night through had not gone to restas he supposed. After the events of the evening she had indeed retiredto her room with tingling cheeks and burning eyes; but the slave-girls, who paid little attention to a guest who was no more than endured andlooked on askance by their mistress, had neglected to open her window-shutters after sundown, as she had requested, and the room wasoppressively sultry and airless. The wooden shutters felt hot to thetouch, so did the linen sheets over the wool mattrasses. The water inher jug, and even the handkerchief she took up were warm. To an Egyptianall this would have been a matter of course; but the native of Damascushad always passed the summer in her father's country house on the heightsof Lebanon, in cool and lucent shade, and the all-pervading heat of thepast day had been to her intolerable. 

Outside it was pleasant now; so without much reflection she pushed openthe shutter, wrapped a long, dark-hued kerchief about her head and stoledown the steep steps and out through a little side door into the court-yard. 

There she drew a deep breath and spread out her arms longingly, as thoughshe would fain fly far, far from thence; but then she dropped them againand looked about her. It was not the want of fresh air alone that hadbrought her out; no, what she most craved for was to open her oppressedand rebellious heart to another; and here, in the servants' quarters, there were two souls, one of which knew, understood and loved her, whilethe other was as devoted to her as a faithful dog, and did errands forher which were to be kept hidden from the governor's house and itsinhabitants. 

The first was her nurse who had accompanied her to Egypt; the other was afreed slave, her father's head groom, who had escorted the women with hisson, a lad, giving them shelter when, after the massacre of Abyla, theyhad ventured out of their hiding-place, and after lurking for some timein the valley of Lebanon, had found no better issue than to fly to Egyptand put themselves under the protection of the Mukaukas, whose sister hadbeen Paula's father's first wife. She herself was the child of hissecond marriage with a Syrian of high rank, a relation of the EmperorHeraclius, who had died, quite young, shortly after Paula's birth. 

Both these servants had been parted from her. Perpetua, the nurse, hadbeen found useful by the governor's wife, who soon discovered that sizewas particularly skilled in weaving and who had made her superintendentof the slave-girls employed at the loom; the old woman had willinglyundertaken the duties though she herself was free-born, for her firstpoint in life was to remain near her beloved foster-child. Hiram too, the groom, and his son had found their place among the Mukaukas'household; in the first instance to take charge of the five horses fromher father's stable which had brought the fugitives to Egypt, butafterwards--for the governor was not slow to discern his skill in suchmatters--as a leech for all sorts of beasts, and as an adviser ispurchasing horses. 

Paula wanted to speak with them both, and she knew exactly where to findthem; but she could not get to them without exposing herself to much thatwas unpleasant, for the governor's free retainers and their friends, notto mention the guard of soldiers who, now that the gates were closed, were still sitting in parties to gossip; they would certainly not breakup for some time yet, since the slaves were only now bringing out thesoldiers' supper. 

The clatter in the court-yard was unceasing, for every one who was freeto come out was enjoying the coolness of the night. Among them therewere no slaves; these had been sent to their quarters when the gates wereshut; but even in their dwellings voices were still audible. 

With a beating heart Paula tried to see and hear all that came within theken of her keen eyes and ears. The growing moon lighted up half theenclosure, the rest, so far as the shadow fell, lay in darkness. But inthe middle of a large semi-circle of free servants a fire was blazing, throwing a fitful light on their brown faces; and now and again, as freshpine-cones were thrown in, it flared up and illuminated even the darkerhalf of the space before her. This added to her trepidation; she had tocross the court-yard, as she hoped, unseen; for innocent and natural asher proceedings were, she knew that her uncle's wife would put a wrongconstruction on her nocturnal expedition. 

At first Neforis had begged her husband to assist Paula in her search forher father, of whose death no one had any positive assurance. But hiswife's urgency had not been needed: the Mukaukas, of his own free will, had for a whole year done everything in his power to learn the truth asto the lost man's end, from Christian or Moslem, till, many months since, Neforis had declared that any further exertions in the matter were merefolly, and her weak-willed husband had soon been brought to share herviews and give up the search for the missing hero. He had secured forPaula, not without some personal sacrifice, much of her father'sproperty, had sold the landed estates to advantage, collected outstandingdebts wherever it was still possible, and was anxious to lay before her astatement of what he had recovered for her. But she knew that herinterests were safe in his hands and was satisfied to learn that, thoughshe was not rich in the eyes of this Egyptian Croesus, she was possessedof a considerable fortune. When once and again she had asked for aportion of it to prosecute her search, the Mukaukas at once caused it tobe paid to her; but the third time he refused, with the best intentionsbut quite firmly, to yield to her wishes. He said he was her Kyrios andnatural guardian, and explained that it was his duty to hinder her fromdissipating a fortune which she might some day find a boon or indeedindispensable, in pursuit of a phantom--for that was what this search hadlong since become. 

 [Kyrios: The woman's legal proxy, who represented her in courts of justice. His presence gave her equal rights with a man in the eyes of the Law. ]

The money she had already spent he had replaced out of his own coffers. 

This, she felt, was a noble action; still she urged him again and againto grant her wish, but always in vain. He laid his hand with firmdetermination on the wealth in his charge and would not allow her anothersolidus for the sole and dearest aim of her life. 

She seemed to submit; but her purpose of spending her all to recover anytrace of her lost parent never wavered in her determined soul. She hadsold a string of pearls, and for the price, her faithful Hiram had beenable first to make a long journey himself and then to send out a numberof messengers into various lands. By this time one at least might verywell have reached home with some news, and she must see the freed-man. 

But how could she get to him undetected? For some minutes she stoodwatching and listening for a favorable moment for crossing the court-yard. Suddenly a blaze lighted up a face--it was Hiram's. 

At this moment the merry semi-circle laughed loudly as with one voice;she hastily made up her mind--drew her kerchief closer over her face, ranquickly along the darker half of the quadrangle and, stooping low, hurried across the moonlight towards the slaves' quarters. 

At the entrance she paused; her heart throbbed violently. Had she beenobserved? No. --There was not a cry, not a following footstep--every dogknew her; the soldiers who were commonly on guard here had quitted theirposts and were sitting with their comrades round the fire. 

The long building to the left was the weaving shop and her nurse Perpetualived there, in the upper story. But even here she must be cautious, forthe governor's wife often came out to give her orders to the workwomen, and to see and criticise the produce of the hundred looms which werealways in motion, early and late. If she should be seen, one of theweavers might only too probably betray the fact of her nocturnal visit. They had not yet gone to rest, for loud laughter fell upon her ear fromthe large sheds, open on all sides, which stood over the dyers' vats. This class of the governor's people were also enjoying the cool nightafter the fierce heat of the day, and the girls too had lighted a fire. 

Paula must pass them in full moonshine--but not just yet; and shecrouched close to the straw thatch which stretched over the huge claywater-jars placed here for the slave-girls to get drink from. It cast adark triangular shadow on the dusty ground that gleamed in the moonlight, and thus screened her from the gaze of the girls, while she could hearand see what was going on in the sheds. 

The dreadful day of torture ending in a harsh discord was at end; andbehind it she looked back on a few blissful hours full of the promise ofnew happiness;--beyond these lay a long period of humiliation, the sequelof a terrible disaster. How bright and sunny had her childhood been, howdelightful her early youth! For long years of her life she had wakedevery morning to new joys, and gone to rest every evening with sincereand fervent thanksgivings, that had welled from her soul as freely andnaturally as perfume from a rose. How often had she shaken her head inperplexed unbelief when she heard life spoken of as a vale of sorrows, and the lot of man bewailed as lamentable. Now she knew better; and inmany a lonely hour, in many a sleepless night, she had asked herselfwhether He could, indeed, be a kind and fatherly-loving God who could leta child be born and grow up, and fill its soul with every hope, and thenbereave it of everything that was dear and desirable--even of hope. 

But the hapless girl had been piously brought up; she could still believeand pray; and lately it had seemed as though Heaven would grant that forwhich her tender heart most longed: the love of a beloved and love-worthyman. And now--now?

There she stood with an inconsolable sense of bereavement--empty-hearted;and if she had been miserable before Orion's return, now she was far moreso; for whereas she had then been lonely she was now defrauded--she, thedaughter of Thomas, the relation and inmate of the wealthiest house inthe country; and close to her, from the rough hewn, dirty dyers' shedssuch clear and happy laughter rang out from a troop of wretched slavewenches, always liable to the blows of the overseer's rod, that she couldnot help listening and turning to look at the girls on whom such anoverflow of high spirits and light-heartedness was bestowed. 

A large party had collected under the wide palm-thatched roof of thedyeing shed-pretty and ugly, brown and fair, tall and short; some uprightand some bent by toil at the loom from early youth, but all young; notone more than eighteen years old. Slaves were capital, bearing interestin the form of work and of children. Every slave girl was married to aslave as soon as she was old enough. Girls and married women alike wereemployed in the weaving shop, but the married ones slept in separatequarters with their husbands and children, while the maids passed thenight in large sleeping-barracks adjoining the worksheds. They were nowenjoying the evening respite and had gathered in two groups. One partywere watching an Egyptian girl who was scribbling sketches on a tablet;the others were amusing themselves with a simple game. This consisted ineach one in turn flinging her shoe over her head. If it flew beyond achalk-line to which she turned her back she was destined soon to marrythe man she loved; if it fell between her and the mark she must yet havepatience, or would be united to a companion she did not care for. 

The girl who was drawing, and round whom at least twenty others werecrowded, was a designer of patterns for weaving; she had too the giftwhich had characterized her heathen ancestors, of representing faces inprofile, with a few simple lines, in such a way that, though oftencomically distorted, they were easily recognizable. She was executingthese works of art on a wax tablet with a copper stylus, and the otherswere to guess for whom they were meant. 

One girl only sat by herself by the furthest post of the shed, and gazedsilently into her lap. 

Paula looked on and could understand everything that was going forward, though no coherent sentence was uttered and there was nothing to be heardbut laughter--loud, hearty, irresistible mirth. When a girl threw theshoe far enough the youthful crowd laughed with all their might, each oneshouting the name of some one who was to marry her successful companion;if the shoe fell within the line they laughed even louder than before, and called out the names of all the oldest and dirtiest slaves. A duskySyrian had failed to hit the mark, but she boldly seized the chalk anddrew a fresh line between herself and the shoe so that it lay beyond, atany rate; and their merriment reached a climax when a number of themrushed up to wipe out the new line, a saucy, crisp-haired Nubian tossedthe shoe in the air and caught it again, while the rest could not ceasefor delight in such a good joke and cried every name they could think ofas that of the lover for whom their companion had so boldly seized aspoke in Fortune's wheel. 

Some spirit of mirth seemed to have taken up his quarters in the draughtyshed; the group round the sketcher was not less noisy than the other. Ifa likeness was recognized they were all triumphant, if not they cried thenames of this or that one for whom it might be intended. A storm ofapplause greeted a successful caricature of the severest of theoverseers. All who saw it held their sides for laughing, and great wasthe uproar when one of the girls snatched away the tablet and the restfell upon her to scuffle for it. 

Paula had watched all this at first with distant amazement, shaking herhead. How could they find so much pleasure in such folly, in suchsenseless amusements? When she was but a little child even she, ofcourse, could laugh at nothing, and these grown-up girls, in theirignorance and the narrow limitations of their minds, were they not oneand all children still? The walls of the governor's house enclosed theirworld, they never looked beyond the present moment--just like children;and so, like children, they could laugh. 

"Fate, " thought she, "at this moment indemnifies them for the misfortuneof their birth and for a thousand days of misery, and presently they willgo tired and happy to bed. I could envy these poor creatures! If itwere permissible I would join them and be a child again. "

The comic portrait of the overseer was by this time finished, and ashort, stout wench burst into a fit of uproarious and unquenchablelaughter before any of the rest. It came so naturally, too, from thevery depths of her plump little body that Paula, who had certainly notcome hither to be gay, suddenly caught the infection and had to laughwhether she would or no. Sorrow and anxiety were suddenly forgotten, thought and calculation were far from her; for some minutes she feltnothing but that she, too, was laughing heartily, irrepressibly, like theyoung healthful human creature that she was. Ah, how good it was thus toforget herself for once! She did not put this into words, but she feltit, and she laughed afresh when the girl who had been sitting apartjoined the others, and exclaimed something which was unintelligible toPaula, but which gave a new impetus to their mirth. 

The tall slight form of this maiden was now standing by the fire. Paulahad never seen her before and yet she was by far the handsomest of themall; but she did not look happy and perhaps was in some pain, for she hada handkerchief over her head which was tied at the top over the thickfair hair as though she had the toothache. As she looked at her Paularecovered herself, and as soon as she began to think merriment was at anend. The slave-girls were not of this mind; but their laughter was lessinnocent and frank than it had been; for it had found an object whichthey would have done better to pass by. 

The girl with the handkerchief over her head was a slave too, but she hadonly lately come into the weaving-sheds after being employed for a longtime at needle work under two old women, widows of slaves. She had beenbrought as an infant from Persia to Alexandria with her mother, by thetroops of Heraclius, after the conquest of Chosroes II. ; and they hadbeen bought together for the Mukaukas. When her little one was butthirteen the mother died under the yoke to which she was not born; thechild was a sweet little girl with a skin as white as the swan and thickgolden hair, which now shone with strange splendor in the firelight. Orion had remarked her before his journey, and fascinated by the beautyof the Persian girl, had wished to have her for his own. Servants andofficials, in unscrupulous collusion, had managed to transport her to acountry-house belonging to the Mukaukas on the other side of the Nile, and there Orion had been able to visit her undisturbed as often as fancyprompted him. The slave-girl, scarcely yet sixteen, ignorant andunprotected, had not dared nor desired to resist her master's handsomeson, and when Orion had set out for Constantinople--heedless and wearyalready of the girl who had nothing to give him but her beauty--DameNeforis found out her connection with her son and ordered the headoverseer to take care that the unhappy girl should not "ply her seductivearts" any more. The man had carried out her instructions by condemningthe fair Persian, according to an ancient custom, to have her ears cutoff. After this cruel punishment the mutilated beauty sank into a stateof melancholy madness, and although the exorcists of the Church and otherthaumaturgists had vainly endeavored to expel the demon of madness, sheremained as before: a gentle, good-humored creature, quiet and diligentat her work, under the women who had charge of her, and now in the commonwork-shop. It was only when she was idle that her craziness becameevident, and of this the other girls took advantage for their ownamusement. 

They now led Mandane to the fire, and with farcical reverence requestedher to be seated on her throne--an empty color cask, for she sufferedunder the strange permanent delusion that she was the wife of theMukaukas George. They laughingly did her homage, craved some favor ormade enquiries as to her husband's health and the state of her affairs. Hitherto a decent instinct of reserve had kept these poor ignorantcreatures from mentioning Orion's name in her presence, but now a woolly-headed negress, a lean, spiteful hussy, went up to her, and said with ahorrible grimace:

"Oh, mistress, and where is your little son Orion?" The crazy girl didnot seem startled by the question; she replied very gravely: "I havemarried him to the emperor's daughter at Constantinople. "

"Hey day! A splendid match!" exclaimed the black girl. "Did you knowthat the young lord was here again? He has brought home his grand wifeto you no doubt, and we shall see purple and crowns in these parts!"

These words brought a deep flush into the poor creature's face. Sheanxiously pressed her hands on the bandage that covered her ears andsaid: "Really Has he really come home?"

"Only quite lately, " said another and more good-natured girl, to sootheher. 

"Do not believe her!" cried the negress. "And if you want to know thelatest news of him: Last night he was out boating on the Nile with thetall Syrian. My brother, the boatman, was among the rowers; and he wenton finely with the lady I can tell you, finely. . . . "

"My husband, the great Mukaukas?" asked Mandane, trying to collect herideas. 

"No. Your son Orion, who married the emperor's daughter, " laughed thenegress. 

The crazy girl stood up, looked about with a restless glance, and then, as though she had not fully understood what had been said to her, repeated: "Orion? Handsome Orion?"

"Aye, your sweet son, Orion!" they all shouted, as loud as though shewere deaf. Then the usually placable girl, holding her hand over herear, with the other hit her tormentor such a smack on her thick lips thatit resounded, while she shrieked out loud, in shrill tones:

"My son, did you say? My son Orion?--As if you did not know! Why, hewas my lover; yes, he himself said he was, and that was why they came andbound me and cut my ears. --But you know it. But I do not love him--Icould, I might wish, I. . . . " She clenched her fists, and gnashed herwhite teeth, and went on with panting breath:

"Where is he?--You will not tell me? Wait a bit--only wait. Oh, I amsharp enough, I know you have him here. --Where is be? Orion, Orion, where are you?"

She sprang away, ran through the sheds and lifted the lids of all thecolor-vats, stooping low to look down into each as if she expected tofind him there, while the others roared with laughter. 

Most of her companions giggled at this witless behavior; but some, whofelt it somewhat uncanny and whom the unhappy girl's bitter cry hadstruck painfully, drew apart and had already organized some newamusement, when a neat little woman appeared on the scene, clapping herplump hands and exclaiming:

"Enough of laughter--now, to bed, you swarm of bees. The night is overtoo soon in the morning, and the looms must be rattling again by sunrise. One this way and one that, just like mice when the cat appears. Will youmake haste, you night-birds? Come, will you make haste?"

The girls had learnt to obey, and they hurried past the matron to theirsleeping-quarters. Perpetua, a woman scarcely past fifty, whose facewore a pleasant expression of mingled shrewdness and kindness, stoodpricking up her ears and listening; she heard from the water-shed apeculiar low, long-drawn Wheeuh!--a signal with which she was familiaras that by which the prefect Thomas had been wont to call together hisscattered household from the garden of his villa on Mount Lebanon. Itwas now Paula who gave the whistle to attract her nurse's attention. 

Perpetua shook her head anxiously. What could have brought her belovedchild to see her at so late an hour? Something serious must haveoccurred, and with characteristic presence of mind she called out, toshow that she had heard Paula's signal: "Now, make haste. Will you bequick? Wheeuh! girls--wheeuh! Hurry, hurry!"

She followed the last of the slave-girls into the sleeping-room, and whenshe had assured herself that they were all there but the crazy Persianshe enquired where she was. They had all seen her a few minutes ago inthe shed; so she bid them good-night and left them, letting it beunderstood that she was about to seek the missing girl. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Paula went into her nurse's room, and Perpetua, after a short and vainsearch for the crazy girl, abandoned her to her fate, not without somesmall scruples of conscience. 

A beautifully-polished copper lamp hung from the ceiling and the littleroom exactly suited its mistress both were neat and clean, trim andspruce, simple and yet nice. Snowy transparent curtains enclosed the bedas a protection against the mosquitoes, a crucifix of delicateworkmanship hung above the head of the couch, and the seats were coveredwith good cloth of various colors, fag-ends from the looms. Pretty strawmats lay on the floor, and pots of plants, filling the little room withfragrance, stood on the window-sill and in a corner of the room where aclay statuette of the Good Shepherd looked down on a praying-desk. 

The door had scarcely closed behind them when Perpetua exclaimed: "Butchild, how you frightened me! At so late an hour!"

"I felt I must come, " said Paula. I could contain myself no longer. "

"What, tears?" sighed the woman, and her own bright little eyes twinkledthrough moisture. "Poor soul, what has happened now?"

She went up to the young girl to stroke her hair, but Paula rushed intoher arms, clung passionately round her neck, and burst into loud andbitter weeping. The little matron let her weep for a while; then shereleased herself, and wiped away her own tears and those of her talldarling, which had fallen on her smooth grey hair. She took Paula's chinin a firm hand and turned her face towards her own, saying tenderly butdecidedly: "There, that is enough. You might cry and welcome, for iteases the heart, but that it is so late. Is it the old story: home-sickness, annoyances, and so forth, or is there anything new?"

"Alas, indeed!" replied the girl. She pressed her handkerchief in herhands as she went on with excited vehemence: "I am in the last extremity, I can bear it no longer, I cannot--I cannot! I am no longer a child, andwhen in the evening you dread the night and in the morning dread the daywhich must be so wretched, so utterly unendurable. . . . "

"Then you listen to reason, my darling, and say to yourself that of twoevils it is wise to choose the lesser. You must hear me say once morewhat I have so often represented to you before now: If we renounce ourcity of refuge here and venture out into the wide world again, what shallwe find that will be an improvement?"

"Perhaps nothing but a hovel by a well under a couple of palm-trees; thatwould satisfy me, if I only had you and could be free--free from everyone else!"

"What is this; what does this mean?" muttered the elder woman shakingher head. "You were quite content only the day before yesterday. Something must have. . . . "

"Yes, must have happened and has, " interrupted the girl almost besideherself. "My uncle's son. --You were there when he arrived--and Ithought, even I firmly believed that he was worthy of such a reception. --I--I--pity me, for I. . . You do not know what influence that manexercises over hearts. --And I--I believed his eyes, his words, his songsand--yes, I must confess all--even his kisses on this hand! But it wasall false, all--a lie, a cruel sport with a weak, simple heart, or evenworse--more insulting still! In short, while he was doing all in hispower to entrap me--even the slaves in the barge observed it--he was inthe very act--I heard it from Dame Neforis, who is only too glad when shecan hurt me--in the very act of suing for the hand of that little doll--you know her--little Katharina. She is his betrothed; and yet theshameless wretch dares to carry on his game with me; he has the face. .. . "

Again Paula sobbed aloud; but the older woman did not know how to help inthe matter and could only mutter to herself: "Bad, bad--what, this too!--Merciful Heaven! . . . " But she presently recovered herself and saidfirmly: "This is indeed a new and terrible misfortune; but we have knownworse--much, much worse! So hold up your head, and whatever liking youmay have in your heart for the traitor, tear it out and trample on it. Your pride will help you; and if you have only just found out what mylord Orion is, you may thank God that things had gone no further betweenyou!" Then she repeated to Paula all that she knew of Orion's misconductto the frenzied Mandane, and as Paula gave strong utterance to herindignation, she went on:

"Yes, child, he is a man to break hearts and ruin happiness, and perhapsit was my duty to warn you against him; but as he is not a bad man inother things--he saved the brother of Hathor the designer--you know her--from drowning, at the risk of his own life--and as I hoped you might beon friendly terms with him at least, on his return home, I refrained. .. . And besides, old fool that I am, I fancied your proud heart wore abreastplate of mail, and after all it is only a foolish girl's heart likeany other, and now in its twenty-first year has given its love to a manfor the first time. "

But Paula interrupted her: "I love the traitor no more! No, I hate him, hate him beyond words! And the rest of them! I loathe them all!"

"Alas! that it should be so!" sighed the nurse. "Your lot is no doubt ahard one. He--Orion--of course is out of the question; but I often askmyself whether you might not mend matters with the others. If you hadnot made it too hard for them, child, they must have loved you; theycould not have helped it; but ever since you have been in the house youhave only felt miserable and wished that they would let you go your ownway, and they--well they have done so; and now you find it ill to bearthe lot you chose for yourself. It is so indeed, child, you need notcontradict me. This once we will put the matter plainly: Who can hope towin love that gives none, but turns away morosely from his fellow-creatures? If each of us could make his neighbors after his own pattern--then indeed! But life requires us to take them just as we find them, and you, sweetheart, have never let this sink into your mind!"

"Well, I am what I am !"

"No doubt, and among the good you are the best--but which of them all canguess that? Every one to some extent plays a part. And you! Whatwonder if they never see in you anything but that you are unhappy? Godknows it is ten thousand times a pity that you should be! But who cantake pleasure in always seeing a gloomy face?"

"I have never uttered a single word of complaint of my troubles to anyone of them!" cried Paula, drawing herself up proudly. 

"That is just the difficulty, " replied Perpetua. "They took you in, and thought it gave them a claim on your person and also on your sorrows. Perhaps they longed to comfort you; for, believe me, child, there is asecret pleasure in doing so. Any one who is able to show us sympathyfeels that it does him more good than it does us. I know life! Has itnever occurred to you that you are perhaps depriving your relations inthe great house of a pleasure, perhaps even doing them an injury bylocking up your heart from them? Your grief is the best side of you, andof that you do indeed allow them to catch a glimpse; but where the painis you carefully conceal. Every good man longs to heal a wound when hesees it, but your whole demeanor cries out: 'Stay where you are, andleave me in peace. '--If only you were good to your uncle!"

"But I am, and I have felt prompted a hundred times to confide in him--but then. . . "

"Well--then?"

"Only look at him, Betta; see how he lies as cold as marble, rigid andapathetic, half dead and half alive. At first the words often rose to mylips. . . "

"And now?"

"Now all the worst is so long past; I feel I have forfeited the right tocomplain to him of all that weighs me down. "

"Hm, " said Perpetua who had no answer ready. "But take heart, my child. Orion has at any rate learnt how far he may venture. You can hold yourhead high enough and look cool enough. Bear all that cannot be mended, and if an inward voice does not deceive me, he whom we seek. . . "

"That was what brought me here. Are none of our messengers returnedyet?"

"Yes, the little Nabathaean is come, " replied her nurse with somehesitation, "and he indeed--but for God's sake, child, form no vainhopes! Hiram came to me soon after sun-down. . . "

"Betta!" screamed the girl, clinging to her nurse's arm. "What has heheard, what news does he bring?"

"Nothing, nothing! How you rush at conclusions! What he found out isnext to nothing. I had only a minute to speak to Hiram. To-morrowmorning he is to bring the man to me. The only thing he told me. . . "

"By Christ's Wounds! What was it?"

"He said that the messenger had heard of an elderly recluse, who hadformerly been a great warrior. "

"My father, my father!" cried Paula. "Hiram is sitting by the fire withthe others. Fetch him here at once--at once; I command you, Perpetua, doyou hear? Oh best, dearest Betta! Come with me; we will go to him. "

"Patience, sweetheart, a little patience!" urged the nurse. "Ah, poordear soul, it will turn out to be nothing again; and if we again followup a false clue it will only lead to fresh disappointment. "

"Never mind: you are to come with me. "

"To all the servants round the fire, and at this time of night? I shouldthink so indeed!--But do you wait here, child. I know how it can bemanaged. 

"I will wake Hiram's Joseph. He sleeps in the stable yonder--and then hewill fetch his father. Ah! what impatience! What a stormy, passionatelittle heart it is! If I do not do your bidding, I shall have you awakeall night, and wandering about to-morrow as if in a dream. --There, bequiet, be quiet, I am going. "

As she spoke she wrapped her kerchief round her head and hurried out;Paula fell on her knees before the crucifix over the bed, and prayedfervently till her nurse returned, Soon after she heard a man's steps onthe stairs and Hiram came in. 

He was a powerful man of about fifty, with a pair of honest blue eyes inhis plain face. Any one looking at his broad chest would conclude thatwhen he spoke it would be in a deep bass voice; but Hiram had stammeredfrom his infancy; and from constant companionship with horses he hadaccustomed himself to make a variety of strange, inarticulate noises in ahigh, shrill voice. Besides, he was always unwilling to speak. When hefound himself face to face with the daughter of his master andbenefactor, he knelt at her feet, looked up at her with faithful, dog-like eyes full of affection, and kissed first her dress, and then herhand which she held out to him. Paula kindly but decidedly cut short theexpressions of delight at seeing her again which he painfully stammeredout; and when he at length began to tell his story his words came far tooslowly for her impatience. 

He told her that the Nabathaean who had brought the rumor that hadexcited her hopes, was not unwilling to follow up the trace he had found, but he would not wait beyond noon the next day and had tried to bid forhigh terms. 

"He shall have them--as much as he wants!" cried Paula. But Hiramentreated her, more by looks and vague cries than by articulate words, not to hope for too much. Dusare the Nabathaean--Perpetua now took upthe tale--had heard of a recluse, living at Raithu on the Red Sea, whohad been a great warrior, by birth a Greek, and who for two years hadbeen leading a life of penance in great seclusion among the piousbrethren on the sacred Mount of Sinai. The messenger had not been ableto learn what his name in the world had been, but among the hermits hewas known as Paulus. "

"Paulus!" interrupted the girl with panting breath. "A name that mustremind him of my mother and of me, yes, of me! And he, the hero ofDamascus, who was called Thomas in the world, believing that I was dead, has no doubt dedicated himself to the service of God and of Christ, andhas taken the name of Paulus, as Saul, the other man of Damascus didafter his con version, --exactly like him! Oh! Betta, Hiram, you willsee: it is he, it must be! How can you doubt it?"

The Syrian shook his head doubtfully and gave vent to a long-drawnwhistle, and Perpetua clasped her hands exclaiming distressfully: "Did Inot say so? She takes the fire lighted by shepherds at night to warmtheir hands for the rising sun--the rattle of chariots for the thundersof the Almighty!--Why, how many thousands have called themselves Paulus!By all the Saints, child, I beseech you keep quiet, and do not try toweave a holiday-robe out of airy mist! Be prepared for the worst; thenyou are armed against failure and preserve your right to hope! Tell her, tell her, Hiram, what else the messenger said; it is nothing positive;everything is as uncertain as dust in the breeze. "

The freedman then explained that this Nabathaean was a trustworthy man, far better skilled in such errands than himself, for he understood bothSyriac and Egyptian, Greek and Aramaic; and nevertheless he had failed tofind out anything more about this hermit Paulus at Tor, where the monksof the monastery of the Transfiguration had a colony. Subsequently, however, on the sea voyage to Holzum, he had been informed by some monksthat there was a second Sinai. The monastery there--but here Perpetuaagain was the speaker, for the hapless stammerer's brow was beaded withsweat--the monastery at the foot of the peaked, heaven-kissing mountain, had been closed in consequence of the heresies of its inhabitants; but inthe gorges of these great heights there were still many recluses, some ina small Coenobium, some in Lauras and separate caves, and among theseperchance Paulus might be found. This clue seemed a good one and she andHiram had already made up their minds to follow it up; but the warriormonk was very possibly a stranger, and they had thought it would be cruelto expose her to so keen a disappointment. 

Here Paula interrupted her, crying in joyful excitement:

"And why should not something besides disappointment be my portion foronce? How could you have the heart to deprive me of the hope on which mypoor heart still feeds?--But I will not be robbed of it. Your Paulus ofSinai is my lost father. I feel it, I know it! If I had not sold mypearls, the Nabathaean. . . . But as it is. When can you start, my goodHiram?"

"Not before a fort--a fortnight at--at--at--soonest, " said the man. "I am in the governor's service now, and the day after to-morrow is thegreat horse-fair at Niku. The young master wants some stallions boughtand there are our foals to. . . . "

"I will implore my uncle to-morrow, to spare you, " cried Paula. "I will go on my knees to him. "

"He will not let him go, " said the nurse. "Sebek the steward told himall about it from me before the hour of audience and tried to have Hiramreleased. "

"And he said. .. . ?"

"The lady Neforis said it was all a mere will-o'-the-wisp, and my lordagreed with her. Then your uncle forbade Sebek to betray the matter toyou, and sent word to me that he would possibly send Hiram to Sinai whenthe horse-fair was over. So take patience, sweetheart. What are twoweeks, or at most three--and then. . . . "

"But I shall die before then!" cried Paula. "The Nabathaean, you say, is here and willing to go. "

"Yes, Mistress. "

"Then we will secure him, " said Paula resolutely. Perpetua, however, whomust have discussed the matter fully with her fellow-countryman, shookher head mournfully and said: "He asks too much for us!"

She then explained that the man, being such a good linguist, had alreadybeen offered an engagement to conduct a caravan to Ctesiphon. This wouldbe a year's pay to him, and he was not inclined to break off hisnegotiations with the merchant Hanno and search the deserts of ArabiaPetraea for less than two thousand drachmae. 

"Two thousand drachmae!" echoed Paula, looking down in distress andconfusion; but she presently looked up and exclaimed with angrydetermination: "How dare they keep from me that which is my own? If myuncle refuses what I have to ask, and will ask, then the inevitable musthappen, though for his sake it will grieve me; I must put my affairs inthe hands of the judges. "

"The judges?" Perpetua smiled. "But you cannot lay a complaint withoutyour kyrios, and your uncle is yours. Besides: before they have settledthe matter the messenger may have been to Ctesiphon and back, far as itis. "

Again her nurse entreated her to have patience till the horse-fair shouldbe over. Paula fixed her eyes on the ground. She seemed quite crushed;but Perpetua started violently and Hiram drew back a step when shesuddenly broke out in a loud, joyful cry of "Father in Heaven, I havewhat we need!"

"How, child, what?" asked the nurse, pressing her hand to her heart. But Paula vouchsafed no information; she turned quickly to the Syrian:

"Is the outer court-yard clear yet? Are the people gone?" she asked. 

The reply was in the affirmative. The freed servants had retired whenHiram left them. The officials would not break up for some time yet, butthere was less difficulty in passing them. 

"Very good, " said the girl. "Then you, Hiram, lead the way and wait forme by the little side door. I will give you something in my room whichwill pay the Nabathaean's charges ten times over. Do not look sohorrified, Betta. I will give him the large emerald out of my mother'snecklace. " The woman clasped her hands, and cried out in dismay andwarning. 

"Child, child! That splendid gem! an heirloom in the family--that stonewhich came to you from the saintly Emperor Theodosius--to sell that ofall things! Nay-to throw it away; not to rescue your father either, butmerely--yes child, for that is the truth, merely because you lackpatience to wait two little weeks!"

"That is hard, that is unjust, Betta, " Paula broke in reprovingly. "Itwill be a question of a month, and we all know how much depends on themessenger. Do you forget how highly Hiram spoke of this very man'sintelligence? And besides--must I, the younger, remind you?--What is thelife of man? An instant may decide his life or death; and my father isan old man, scarred from many wounds even before the siege. It may makejust the difference between our meeting, or never meeting again. "

"Yes, yes, " said the old woman in subdued tones, "perhaps you are right, and if I. . . " But Paula stopped her mouth with a kiss, and thendesired Hiram to carry the gem, the first thing in the morning, toGamaliel the Jew, a wealthy and honest man, and not to sell it for lessthan twelve thousand drachmae. If the goldsmith could not pay so muchfor it at once, he might be satisfied to bring away the two thousanddrachmae for the messenger, and fetch the remainder at another season. 

The Syrian led the way, and when, after a long leave-taking, she quittedher nurse's pleasant little room, Hiram had done her bidding and waswaiting for her at the little side door. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

As Hiram had supposed, the better class of the household were stillsitting with their friends, and they had been joined by the guide and bythe Arab merchant's head man: Rustem the Masdakite, as well as hissecretary and interpreter. 

With the exception only of Gamaliel the Jewish goldsmith, and the Arab'sfollowers, the whole of the party were Christians; and it had goneagainst the grain to admit the Moslems into their circle--the Jew had foryears been a welcome member of the society. However, they had done so, and not without marked civility; for their lord had desired that thestrangers should be made welcome, and they might expect to hear much thatwas new from wanderers from such a distance. In this, to be sure, theywere disappointed, for the dragoman was taciturn and the Masdakite couldspeak no Egyptian, and Greek very ill. So, after various futile attemptsto make the new-comers talk, they paid no further heed to them, andOrion's secretary became the chief speaker. He had already told themyesterday much that was fresh and interesting about the Imperial court;to-day he entered into fuller details of the brilliant life his younglord had led at Constantinople, whither he had accompanied him. Hedescribed the three races he had won in the Circus with his own horses;gave a lively picture of his forcing his way with only five followersthrough a raging mob of rioters, from the palace to the church of St. Sophia; and then enlarged on Orion's successes among the beauties of theCapital. 

"The queen of them all, " he went on in boastful accents, "was Heliodora--no flute-player nor anything of that kind; no indeed, but a rich, elegant, and virtuous patrician lady, the widow of Flavianus, nephew toJustinus the senator, and a relation of the Emperor. All Constantinoplewas at her feet, the great Gratian himself sought to win her, but ofcourse, in vain. There is no palace to compare with hers in all Egypt, not even in Alexandria. The governor's residence here--for I thinknothing of mere size--is a peasant's hut--a wretched barn by comparison!I will tell you another time what that casket of treasures is like. Itsdoor was besieged day and night by slaves and freedmen bringing herofferings of flowers and fruit, rare gifts, and tender verses written onperfumed, rose-colored silk; but her favors were not to be purchased tillshe met Orion. Would you believe it: from the first time she saw him inJustinus' villa she fell desperately in love with him; it was all overwith her; she was his as completely as the ring on my finger is mine!"

And in his vanity he showed his hearers a gold ring, with a gem of somevalue, which he owed to the liberality of his young master. "From thatday forth, " he eagerly went on, "the names of Orion and Heliodora were inevery mouth, and how often have I seen men quite beside themselves overthe beauty of this divine pair. In the Circus, in the theatre, orsailing about the Bosphorus--they were to be seen everywhere together;and through the hideous, bloody struggle for the throne they lived in aParadise of their own. He often took her out in his chariot; or she tookhim in hers. "

"Such a woman has horses too?" asked the head groom contemptuously. 

"A woman!" cried the secretary. "A lady of rank!--She has none butbright chestnuts; large horses of Armenian breed, and small, swift beastsfrom the island of Sardinia, which fly on with the chariot, four abreast, like hunted foxes. Her horses are always decked with flowers and ribbonsfluttering from the gold harness, and the grooms know how to drive themtoo!--Well, every one thought that our young lord and the handsome widowwould marry; and it was a terrible blow to the hapless Heliodora whennothing came of it--she looks like a saint and is as soft as a kitten. I was by when they parted, and she shed such bitter tears it was pitiableto see. Still, she could not be angry with her idol, poor, gentle, tender kitten. She even gave him her lap-dog for a keepsake--that littlesilky thing you have seen here. And take my word for it, that was a truelove-token, for her heart was as much set on that little beast as if ithad been her favorite child. And he felt the parting too, felt itdeeply; however, I am his confidential secretary, and it would never dofor me to tell tales out of school. He clasped the little dog to hisheart as he bid her farewell, and he promised her to send some keepsakein return which should show her how precious her love had been--and itwill be no trifle, that any one may swear who knows my master. You, Gamaliel, I daresay he has been to you about it by this time. "

The man thus addressed--the same to whom Hiram was to offer Paula'semerald--was a rich Alexandrian of a happy turn of mind; as soon as theincursion of the Saracens had made Alexandria an unsafe residence, sothat the majority of his fellow Israelites had fled from the great port, he had found his way to Memphis, where he could count on the protectionof his patron, the Mukaukas George. 

He shook his grizzled curls at this question, but he presently whisperedin the secretary's ear. "We have the very thing he wants. You bring methe cow and you shall have a calf--and a calf with twelve legs too. Isit a bargain?"

"Twelve per cent on the profits? Done!" replied the secretary in thesame tone, with a sly smile of intelligence. 

When, by-and-bye, an accountant asked him why Orion had not brought homethis fair dame, the bearer too of a noble name, to his parents as theirdaughter-in-law, he replied that, being a Greek, she was of course aMelchite. Those present asked no better reason; as soon as the questionof creed was raised the conversation, as usual in these convivialevenings, became a squabble over dogmatic differences; in the course ofit a legal official ventured to opine that if the case had been that of aless personage than a son of the Mukaukas--for whom it was, of course, out of the question--of a mere Jacobite citizen and his Melchitesweetheart, for instance, some compromise might have been effected. They need only have made up their minds each, respectively, to subscribeto the Monothelitic doctrine--though, he, for his part, could havenothing to say to anything of the kind; it was warmly upheld by theImperial court, and by Cyrus, the deceased patriarch of Alexandria, andwas based on the assumption that there were indeed two natures in Christ, but both under the control of one and the same will. By this dogma therewere in the Saviour two persons no doubt; still it asserted His unity ina certain qualified sense, and this was the most important point. 

Such an heretical proposition was of course loudly disapproved of by theassembled Jacobites; differences of opinion were more and more stronglyasserted, and a calm interchange of views turned to a riotous quarrelwhich threatened to end in actual violence. 

This discussion was already beginning when Paula succeeded in slippingunseen across the court-yard. 

She silently beckoned to Hiram to follow her; he cautiously took off hisshoes, pushed them under the steep servants' stairs, and in a few minuteswas standing in the young girl's room. Paula at once opened a chest, andtook out a costly and beautifully-wrought necklace set with pearls. Thisshe handed to the Syrian, desiring him to wrench from its setting a largeemerald which hung from the middle. The freedman's strong hand, with theaid of a knife, quickly and easily did the work; and he stood weighingthe gem, as it lay freed from the gold hemisphere that had held it, larger than a walnut, shining and sparkling on his palm, while Paularepeated the instructions she had already given him in her nurse's room. 

The faithful soul had no sooner left his beloved mistress than sheproceeded to unplait her long thick hair, smiling the while with happyhope; but she had not yet begun to undress when she heard a knock. Shestarted, flew to the door and hastily bolted it, while she enquired:

"Who is there?"--preparing herself for the worst. "Hiram, " was thewhispered reply. She opened the door, and he told her that meanwhilethe side door had been locked, and that he knew no other way out fromthe great rambling house whither he rarely had occasion to come. 

What was to be done? He could not wait till the door was opened again, for he must carry out her commission quite early in the morning, and ifhe were caught and locked up for only half the day the Nabathaean wouldtake some other engagement. 

With swift decision she twisted up her hair, threw a handkerchief overher head, and said: "Then come with me; the moon is still up; it wouldnot be safe to carry a lamp. I will lead the way and you must keepbehind me If only the kitchen is empty, we can reach the Viridariumunseen. If the upper servants are still sitting in the court-yard thegreat door will be open, for several of them sleep in the house. At anyrate you must go through the vestibule; you cannot miss your way out ofthe viridarium. But stay! Beki generally lies in front of the tablinum--the fierce dog from Herrionthis in Thebais; and he does not know you, forhe never goes out of the house, but he will obey me. 

"When I lift my hand, hang back a little. He is quite quiet with hismasters, and does not hurt a stranger if they are by. Now, we must notutter another word. --If we are discovered, I will confess the truth;if you alone are seen, you can say--well, say you were waiting for Orion, to speak to him very early about the horse-fair at Niku. "

"A horse was off--off--offered me for sale this very day. "

"Good, very good; then you lingered in the vestibule to speak of that--toask the master about it before he should go out. It must be daylight ina few hours. --Now, come. "

Paula went down the stairs with a sure and rapid step. At the bottomHiram again took off his shoes, holding them in his hand, so as to loseno time in following his mistress. They went on in silence through thedarkness till they reached the kitchen. Here Paula turned and said tothe Syrian:

"If there is any one here, I will say I came to fetch some water; ifthere is no one I will cough and you can follow. At any rate I willleave the door open, and then you will hear what happens. If I amobliged to return, do you hurry on before me back by the way we came. In that case I will return to my room where you must wait outside tillthe side door is opened again, and if you are found there leave theexplanation to me. --Shrink back, quite into that corner. "

She softly opened the door into the kitchen; the roof was open to thelight of the declining moon and myriad stars. The room was quite empty:only a cat lay on a bench by the wide hearth, and a few bats flitted toand fro on noiseless wings; a few live coals still glowed among the ashesunder the spits, like the eyes of lurking beasts of prey. Paula coughedgently, and immediately heard Hiram's step behind her; then, with abeating heart and agonizing fears, she proceeded on her way. First downa few steps, then through a dark passage, where the bats in theirunswerving flight shot by close to her head. At last they had to crossthe large, open dining-hall. This led into the viridarium, a spaciousquadrangle, paved at the edges and planted in the middle, where afountain played; round this square the Governor's residence was built. All was still and peaceful in this secluded space, vaulted over by thehigh heavens whose deep blue was thickly dotted with stars. The moonwould soon be hidden behind the top of the cornice which crowned the roofof the building. The large-leaved plants in the middle of the quadranglethrew strange, ghostly shadows on the dewy grass-plot; the water in thefountain splashed more loudly than by day, but with a soothing, monotonous gurgle, broken now and then by a sudden short pause. Themarble pillars gleamed as white as snow, and filmy mists, which werebeginning to rise from the damp lawn, floated languidly hither andthither on the soft night breeze, like ghosts veiled in flowing crape. Moths flitted noiselessly round and over the clumps of bushes, and thewhole quiet and restful enclosure was full of sweetness from the Lotosflowers in the marble basin, from the blossoms of the luxuriant shrubsand the succulent tropical herbs at their feet. At any other time itwould have been a joy to pause and look round, only to breathe and letthe silent magic of the night exert its spell; but Paula's soul wasclosed against these charms. The sequestered silence lent a threateningaccent to the furious wrangling in the court-yard, which was audible evenhere in bursts of uproar; and it was with an anxious heart that sheobserved that everything was not in its usual order; for her sharp eyescould discern no one, nothing, at the entrance to the tablinum, which wasusually guarded by an armed sentinel or by the watch-dog; and surely--yes, she was not mistaken--the bronze doors were open, and the moon shoneon the bright metal of one half which stood ajar. 

She stopped, and Hiram behind her did the same. They both listened withsuch tension that the veins in their foreheads swelled; but from thetablinum, which was hardly thirty paces from them, came only very faintand intermittent sounds, indistinct in character and drowned by thetumult without. 

A few long and anxious minutes, and then the half-closed door wassuddenly opened and a man came forth. Paula's heart stood still, but shedid not for an instant lose her keenness of vision; she at once andpositively recognized the man who came out of the tablinum as Orion andnone other, and the big, long-haired dog too came out and past him, sniffed the air and then, with a loud bark, rushed on the two watchers. Trembling and with clenched teeth, but still mistress of herself, she lethim come close to her, and then, calling him by his name: "Beki" in low, caressing tones, as soon as he recognized her, she laid her hand on hisshaggy head to scratch his ears, as he loved it done. 

Paula and her companion were standing behind a column in the deepestshadow. Thus Orion could not see her, and the dog's loud bark hadprevented his hearing her coaxing call; so when Beki was quiet and stoodstill, Orion whistled to him. The obedient and watchful beast, ran back, wagging his tail; and his master, greeting him as "a stupid old cat-hunter, " let him spring over his arm, hugged the creature and then pushedhim off again in play. Then he closed the door and went into theapartments leading to the courtyard. 

"But he must come back this way to go to his own rooms, " said Paula toher companion with a sigh of relief. "We must wait. But now we must notlose a minute. Come over to the door of the tablinum. The dog will knowme now and will not bark again. " They hastened on, and when they hadreached the door, which lay in shadow within a deep doorway, Paula askedher companion: "Did you see who the man was who came out?"

"My lord Orion, " said Hiram. "He was co--co--coming home from the townwhen I preceded you across the yard. "

"Indeed?" she said with apparent indifference, and as she leaned againstthe cold metal door-panels she looked back into the garden and thoughtshe was now free to return. She would describe to the freedman the wayhe must now go--it was quite simple; but she had not had time to do sowhen, from a room dividing the viridarium from the vestibule she heardfirst a woman's shrill voice; then the deeper tones of a man; and hardlyhad they exchanged a few sentences, when every sound was lost in thefurious barking of the hound, and immediately after a loud shriek of painfrom a woman fell upon her ear, and the noise of a heavy object fallingto the ground. 

What had happened? It must be something portentous and terrible; of thatthere could be no doubt; and ere long Paula's fears were justified. Outfrom the room where the scene had taken place rushed Orion, and with himthe dog, across the grass-plot which was usually respected and cherishedas holy ground, towards the side of the house facing the river, which waswhere he and all the family had their rooms. 

"Now!" cried Paula, quickly leading the way. 

She flew in breathless haste through the first room and into theunguarded hall; but she had not reached the middle of it when she gave ascream, for before her in the moonlight, lay a body, motionless, at fulllength, on the hard, marble floor. 

"Run, Hiram, fly !" she cried to her companion. "The door is ajar--open--I can see it is. "

She fell on her knees by the side of the lifeless form, raised the head, and saw--the beautiful, deathlike face of the crazy Persian slave. Shefelt her hand wet with the blood that had soaked the hapless girl'sthick, fair hair, and she shuddered; but she resisted her impulse ofhorror and loathing, and perceiving some dark stains on the torn peplosshe pulled it aside and saw that the white bosom was bleeding from deepwounds made in the tender flesh by the cruel fangs of the hound. 

Paula's heart thrilled with indignation, grief and pity. He--he whom shehad only yesterday held to be the epitome of every manly perfection--Orion, was guilty of so foul a deed! He, of whose unflinching, dauntlesscourage she had heard so much, had fled like a coward, and had left thevictim to her fate--twice a victim to him!

But something must be done besides lamenting and raging, and wonderinghow in one human soul there could be room for so much that was noble andfine with so much that was shameful and cruel. She must save the girl, she must seek help, for Mandane's bosom still faintly rose and fell underPaula's tremulous fingers. 

The freedman's brave heart would not allow him to fly to leave her withthe injured girl; he flung his shoes on the floor, raised the senselessform, and propped it against one of the columns that stood round thehall. It was not till his mistress had repeated her orders that hehurried away. Paula watched him depart; as soon as she heard the heavydoor of the atrium close upon him, heedless of her own suspicious-lookingposition, she shouted for help, so loudly that her cries rang through thenocturnal silence of the house, and in a few minutes, from this side andthat, a slave, a maid, a clerk, a cook, a watchman, came hurrying in. 

Foremost of all--so soon indeed that he must have been on his way when heheard her cry--came Orion. He wore a light night-dress, intended, so shesaid to herself, to give the wretch the appearance of having sprung outof bed. But was this indeed he? Was this man with a flushed face, staring eyes, disordered hair and hoarse voice, that favorite of fortunewhose happy nature, easy demeanor, sunny gaze and enchanting song hadbewitched her soul? His hand shook as he came close to her and theinjured slave; and how forced and embarrassed was his enquiry as to whathad happened; how scared he looked as he asked her what had brought herinto this part of the house at such an hour. 

She made no reply; but when his mother repeated the question soon after, in a sharp voice, she--she who had never in her life told a lie--saidwith hasty decision: "I could not sleep, and the bark of the dog and acry for help brought me here. "

"I call that having sharp ears!" retorted Neforis with an incredulousshrug. "For the future, at any rate, under similar circumstances youneed not be so prompt. How long, pray, have young girls trustedthemselves alone when murder is cried?"

"If you had but armed yourself, fair daughter of heroes!" added Orion;but he had no sooner spoken than he bitterly regretted it. What a glancePaula cast at him! It was more than she could bear to hear him addressher in jest, almost in mockery: him of all men, and at this moment forthe first time--and to be thus reminded of her father! She answeredproudly and with cutting sharpness: "I leave weapons to fighting men andmurderers!"

"To fighting men, and murderers!" repeated Orion, pretending not tounderstand the point of her words. He forced a smile; but then, feelingthat he must make some defence, he added bitterly: "Really, that soundslike the utterance of a feeble-hearted damsel! But let me beg you tocome closer and be calm. These pitiable gashes on the poor creature'sshoulder--I care more about her than you do, take my word for it--wereinflicted by a four-footed assassin, whose weapons were given by nature. Yes, that is what happened. Rough old Beki keeps watch at the door ofthe tablinum. What brought the poor child here I know not, but he caughtscent of her and pulled her down. "

"Or nothing of the kind!" interrupted Neforis, picking up a pair ofman's shoes which lay on the ground by the sufferer. 

Orion turned as pale as death and hastily took the shoes from hismother's hand; he would have liked to fling them up and away through theopen roof. How came they here? Whose were they? Who had been here thisnight? Before going into the tablinum he had locked the outer door onthat side, and had returned subsequently to open it again for the peoplein the court-yard. It was not till after he had done this that the crazygirl had rushed upon him; she must have been lurking somewhere about whenhe first went through the atrium but had not then found courage enough toplace herself in his way. When she had thrown herself upon him, the doghad pulled her down before he could prevent it: he would certainly havesprung past her and have come to the rescue but that he must thus havebetrayed his visit to the tablinum. 

It had required all his presence of mind to hurry to his room, fling onhis night garments, and rush back to the scene of disaster. When Paulahad first called for help he was already on his way, and with whatfeelings! Never had he felt so bewildered, so confused, so deeplydissatisfied with himself; for the first time in his life, as he stoodface to face with Paula, he dared not look straight into the eyes of hisfellow-man. 

And now these shoes! The owner must have come there with the crazy girl, and if he had seen him in the tablinum and betrayed what he was doingthere, how could he ever again appear in his parents' presence? He hadlooked upon it as a good joke, but now it had turned to bitter earnest. At any cost he must and would prevent his nocturnal doings from becomingknown! Some new wrong-doing-nay, the worst was preferable to a stain onhis honor. --Whose could the shoes be? He suddenly held them up on high, crying with a loud voice: "Do these shoes belong to any of you, youpeople? To the gate-keeper perhaps?"

When all were silent, and the porter denied the ownership, he stoodthinking; then he added with a defiant glare, and in a husky voice:"Then some one who had broken into the house has been startled anddropped them. Our house-stamp is here on the leather: they were made inour work-shop, and they still smell of the stable-here, Sebek, you canconvince yourself. Take them into your keeping, man; and tomorrowmorning we will see who has left this suspicious offering in ourvestibule. --You were the first to reach the spot, fair Paula. Did yousee a man about?"

"Yes, " she replied with a hostile and challenging stare. 

"And which way did he go?"

"He fled across the viridarium like a coward, running across the poor, well-kept grass-plot to save time, and vanished upstairs in the dwelling-rooms. "

Orion ground his teeth, and a mad hatred surged up in him of this mysteryin woman's form in whose power, as it seemed, his ruin lay, and whoseeyes mashed with revenge and the desire to undo him. What was sheplotting against him? Was there a being on earth who would dare toaccuse him, the spoilt favorite of great and small. .. . ? And her look hadmeant more than aversion, it had expressed contempt. .. . How dare shelook so at him? Who in the wide world had a right to accuse him ofanything that could justify such a feeling? Never, never had he met withenmity like this, least of all from a girl. He longed to annihilate thehigh-handed, cold-hearted, ungrateful creature who could humble him sooutrageously after he had allowed her to see that his heart was hers, andwho could make him quail--a man whose courage had been proved a hundredtimes. He had to exercise his utmost self-control not to forget that shewas a woman. --What had happened? What demon had been playing tricks onhim--What had so completely altered him within this half-hour that hiswhole being seemed subverted even to himself, and that any one dared totreat him so?

His mother at once observed the terrible change that came over her son'sface when Paula declared that a man had fled towards the dwelling-rooms;but she accounted for it in her own way, and exclaimed in genuine alarm:"Towards the Nile-wing, the rooms where your father sleeps? MercifulHeaven! suppose they have planned an attack there! Run--fly, Sebek. 

"Go across with some armed men! Search the whole house from top tobottom! Perhaps you will catch the rascal--he had trodden down thegrass--you must find him--you must not let him escape. "

The steward hurried off, but Paula begged the head gardener, who had comein with the rest, to compare the foot-prints of the fugitive, which must. Yet be visible on the damp grass, with the shoes; her heart beat wildly, and again she tried to catch the young man's eye. Orion, however, started forward and went into the viridarium, saying as he went: "That ismy concern. "

But he was ashamed of himself, and felt as if something tight wasthrottling him. In his own eyes he appeared like a thief caught in theact, a traitor, a contemptible rascal; and he began to perceive that hewas indeed no longer what he had been before he had committed that fataldeed in the tablinum. 

Paula breathed hard as she watched him go out. Had he sunk so low as tofalsify the evidence, and to declare that the groom's broad sole fittedthe tracks of his small and shapely feet? She hated him, and yet shecould have found it in her heart to pray that this, at least, he mightnot do; and when he came back and said in some confusion that he couldnot be sure, that the shoes did not seem exactly to fit the foot-marks, she drew a breath of relief and turned again to the wounded girl and thephysician, who, had now made his appearance. Before Neforis followed herexample she drew Orion aside and anxiously asked him what ailed him, helooked so pale and upset. He only said with some hesitation: "That poorgirl's fate. . . . " and he pointed to the Persian slave. --"It troublesme. "

"You are so soft-hearted--you were as a boy!" said his mothersoothingly. She had seen the moisture sparkling in his eyes; but histears were not for the Persian, but for the mysterious something--hehimself knew not what to call it--that he had forfeited in this lasthour, and of which the loss gave him unspeakable pain. 

But their dialogue was interrupted: the first misfortune of this lucklessnight had brought its attendant: the body of Rustem, the splendid andradiantly youthful Rustem, the faithful Persian leader of the caravan, was borne into the hall, senseless. He had made some satirical remark onthe quarrel over creeds, and a furious Jacobite had fallen upon him witha log of wood, and dealt him a deep and perhaps mortal wound. The leechat once gave him his care, and several of the crowd of muttering andwhispering men, who had made their way in out of curiosity or with a wishto be of use, now hurried hither and thither in obedience to thephysician's orders. 

As soon as he saw the Masdakite's wound he exclaimed angrily:

"A true Egyptian blow, dealt from behind!--What does this mob want here?Out with every man who does not belong to the place! The first thingsneeded are litters. Will you, Dame Neforis, desire that two rooms may begot ready; one for that poor, gentle creature, and one for this finefellow, though all will soon be over with him, short of a miracle. "

"To the north of the viridarium, " replied the lady, "there are two roomsat your service. "

"Not there!" cried the leech. "I must have rooms with plenty of freshair, looking out upon the river. "

"There are none but the handsome rooms in the visitor's quarters, wheremy husband's niece has hers, Sick persons of the family have often lainthere, but for such humble folk--you understand?"

"No--I am deaf, " replied the physician. 

"Oh, I know that, " laughed Neforis. "But those rooms are really justrefurnished for exalted guests. "

"It would be hard to find any more exalted than such as these, sick untodeath, " replied Philippus. "They are nearer to God in Heaven than youare; to your advantage I believe. Here, you people! Carry these poorsouls up to the guests' rooms. "

CHAPTER IX. 

"It is impossible, impossible, impossible!" cried Orion, jumping up fromhis writing-table. He thought of what he had done as a misfortune, andnot as a crime; he himself hardly knew how it had all come about. Yes, there must be demons, evil, spiteful demons--and it was they who had ledhim to so mad a deed. 

Yesterday evening, after the buying of the hanging, he had yielded to hismother's request that he should escort the widow Susannah home. At herhouse he had met her husband's brother, a jovial old fellow namedChrysippus; and when the conversation turned on the tapestry, and theMukaukas' purpose of dedicating this work of art with all the gems workedinto it, to the Church, the old man had clasped his hands, fully sharingOrion's disapproval, and had exclaimed laughing "What, you the son, andis not even a part of the precious stones to fall to your share? WhyKatharina? Just a little diamond, a tiny opal might well add to theearthly happiness of the young, though the old must lay up treasure inheaven. --Do not be a fool! The Church's maw is full enough, and reallya mouthful is your due. "

And then they drank a good deal of fine wine, till at last the older manhad accompanied Orion home, to stretch his limbs in the cool night air. A litter was carried behind him for him to return in, and all the way hehad continued to persuade the youth to induce his father not to fling thewhole treasure into the jaws of the Church, but to spare him a few stonesat least for a more pleasing use. They had laughed over it a good deal, and Orion in his heart had thought Chrysippus very right, and hadremembered Heliodora, and her love of large, handsome gems, and thekeepsake he owed her. But that neither his father nor his mother wouldremove a single stone, and that the whole hanging would be dedicated, wasbeyond a doubt; at the same time, some of this superfluous splendor wasin fact his due as their son, and a prettier gift to Heliodora than thelarge emerald could not be imagined. Yes--and she should have it! Howdelighted she would be! He even thought of the chief idea for the versesto accompany the gift. 

He had the key of the tablinum, in which the work was lying, about hisperson; and when, on his return, he found the servants still sittinground the fire, he shut the door of the out-buildings while a feelingcame over him which he remembered having experienced last on occasionswhen he and his brothers had robbed a forbidden fruit-tree. He was onthe point of giving up his mad project; and when, in the tablinum itself, a horrible inward tremor again came over him he had actually turned toretreat--but he remembered old Chrysippus and his prompts. To turn andfly now would be cowardice. Heliodora must have the large emerald, andwith his verses; his father might give away all the rest as he pleased. When he was kneeling in front of the work with his knife in his hand, that sickening terror had come over him for the third time; if the largeemerald had not come off into his hand at the first effort he wouldcertainly have rolled the bale up again and have left the tablinum clean-handed. But the evil demon had been at his elbow, had thrust the geminto his hand, as it were, so that two cuts with the knife had sufficedto displace it from its setting. It rolled into his hand and he felt itsnoble weight; he cast aside all care, and had thought no more withanything but pleasure of this splendid trick, which he would relateto-morrow to old Chrysippus--of course under seal of secrecy. 

But now, in the sober light of day, how different did this mad, rash deedappear; how heavily had he already been punished; what consequences mightit not entail? His hatred of Paula grew every minute: she had certainlyseen all that had happened and would not hesitate to betray him--that shehad shown last night. War, as it were, was declared between them, and hevowed to himself, with fire in his eyes, that he would not shirk it! Atthe same time he could not deny that she had never looked handsomer thanwhen she stood, with hair half undone, confronting him--threatening him. "It is to be love or hate between us. " he muttered to himself. "No half-measures: and she has chosen hate! Good! Hitherto I have onlyhad to fight against men; but this bold, hard, and scornful maiden, whorejects every gentle feeling, is no despicable foe. She has me at bay. If she does her worst by me I will return it in kind!--And who is theowner of the shoes? I have taken all possible means to find him. Shameful, shameful! that I cannot hold up my head to look boldly at myown face in the glass. Heliodora is a sweet creature, an angel ofkindness. She loved me truly; but this--this--Ah; even for her, this istoo great a sacrifice!"

He pressed his hand to his brow and flung himself on a divan. He mightwell be weary, for he had not closed his eyes for more than thirty hoursand had already done much business that morning. He had given orders toSebek the house-steward and to the captain of the Egyptian guard to huntout the owner of the sandals by the aid of the dogs, and to cast him intoprison; next he had of his own accord--since his father generally did notfall asleep till the morning and had not yet left his room--tried topacify the Arab merchant with regard to the mishap that had befallen hishead man under the governor's roof; but with small success. 

Finally the young man had indulged his desire to compose a few linesaddressed to the fair Heliodora--for there was no form of physical ormental effort to which he was not trained. He had not lost the idea thathad occurred to him yesterday before his theft in the tablinum, and toput it into verse was in his present mood an easy task. He wrote asfollows:

 "'Like liketh like' saith the saw; and like to like is but fitting. Yet, in the hardest of gems thy soft nature rejoices? Nay, but if noble and rare, if its beauty is priceless, Then, Heliodora, the stone is like thee--akin to thy beauty. Thus let this emerald please thee;--and know that the fire That fills it with light burns more fierce in the heart of thy Friend. "

He penned the lines rapidly; and as he did so he felt, he knew not why, an excited thrill, as though every word he threw off was a blow aimed atPaula. Last night he had intended to send the costly jewel to thehandsome widow in a suitable setting; but now it would be madly imprudentto order such a thing. He must send it away at once; he had hastened topack it up with the verses, with his own hand, and entrusted it toChusar, a horsedealer's groom from Constantinople, who had brought hisPannonian steeds to Memphis. He had himself seen off this trustworthymessenger, who could speak no Egyptian and very little Greek, and whenhis horse was lost to sight in the dust of the road leading to Alexandriahe had returned home in a calmer mood. Ships were constantly putting tosea from that port for Constantinople, and Chusar was enjoined to sail bythe first that should be leaving. At least the odious deed should nothave been committed in vain; and yet he would have given a year of hislife if now he could but know that it had never been done. 

"Impossible!" and "Curse it!" were the words he had most frequentlyrepeated in the course of his retrospect during the past night andmorning. How he had had to rush and hurry under the broiling sun! andthe sense of being compelled to do so for mere concealment's sake seemedto him--who had never in his life before done anything that he could notjustify in the eyes of honest men--so humiliating, that it brought thesweat to his burning brow. He--Orion--to dread discovery as a thief!It was inconceivable, and he was afraid, positively afraid for the firsttime since his boyhood. His fortunate star, which in the Capital hadshone on him so brightly and benevolently, seemed to have provedfaithless in this ruinous hole! What had that Persian girl taken intoher crazy head that she must rush upon him like some furious beast ofprey? He had been bound to her once, no doubt, by a transient passion--and what youth of his age was blind to the charms of a pretty slave-girl?She had been a lovely child, and it was a vexation, nay a grief to him, that she should have been so shamefully punished. If she should recover, and he could have prayed that she might, it would of course be his partto provide for her--of course. To be just, he could not but confess thatshe indeed had good reason to hate him: but Paula? He had shown hernothing but kindness and yet how unhesitatingly, how openly she haddisplayed her enmity. He could see her now with the name "murderer" onher quivering lips; the word had stung him like a lance-thrust. What ahideous, degrading and unjust accusation lay in that exclamation! Shouldhe submit to it unrevenged?

Was she as innocent as she was haughty and cold? What was she doing inthe viridarium at midnight?--For she must have been there before thatill-starred dog flew at Mandane. An assignation with the owner of theshoes his mother had found was out of the question, for they belonged tosome man about the stables. Love, thought he, for a wonder had nothingto do with it; but as he came in he had noticed a man crossing the court-yard who looked like Paula's freedman, Hiram the trainer. Probably shehad arranged a meeting with her stammering friend in order--in order?--Well, there was but one thing that seemed likely: She was plotting to flyfrom his parents' house and needed this man's assistance. 

He had seen within a few hours of his return that his mother did not makelife sweet to the girl, and yet his father had very possibly opposed herwish to seek another home. But why should she avoid and hate him? Inthat expedition on the river and on their way home he could have swornthat she loved him, and the remembrance of those hours brought her nearto him again, and wiped out his schemes of vengeance against her, ofpunishment to be visited on her. Then he thought of little Katharinawhom his mother intended him to marry, and at the thought he laughedsoftly to himself. In the Imperial gardens at Constantinople he had onceseen a strange Indian bird, with a tiny body and head and an immenselylong tail, shining like silver and mother of pearl. This was Katharina!She herself a mere nothing; but then her tail! vast estates and immensesums of money; and this--this was all his mother saw. But did he needmore than he had? How rich his father must be to spend so large a sumon an offering to the Church as heedlessly as men give alms to a beggar. 

Katharina--and Paula!

Yes, the little girl was a bright, brisk creature; but then Thomas'daughter--what power there was in her eye, what majesty in her gait, how--how--how enchanting her--her voice could be--her voice. .. . 

He was asleep, worn out by heat and fatigue; and in a dream he saw Paulalying on a couch strewn with roses while all about her sounded wonderfulheart-ensnaring music; and the couch was not solid but blue water, gentlymoving: he went towards her and suddenly a large black eagle swooped downon him, flapped his wings in his face and when, half-blinded, he put hishand to his eyes the bird pecked the roses as a hen picks millet andbarley. Then he was angry, rushed at the eagle, and tried to clutch himwith his hands; but his feet seemed rooted to the ground, and the more hestruggled to move freely the more firmly he was dragged backwards. Hefought like a madman against the hindering force, and suddenly itreleased him. He was still under this impression when he woke, streamingwith perspiration, and opened his eyes. By his couch stood his motherwho had laid her hand on his feet to rouse him. 

She looked pale and anxious and begged him to come quickly to his fatherwho was much disturbed, and wished to speak with him. Then she hurriedaway. 

While he hastily arranged his hair and had his shoes clasped he feltvexed that, under the influence of that foolish dream, and still halfasleep, he had let his mother go before ascertaining what thecircumstances were that had given rise to his father's anxiety. Had itanything to do with the incidents of the past night? No. --If he had beensuspected his mother would have told him and warned him. It must referto something else. Perhaps the old merchant's stalwart headman had diedof his wounds, and his father wished to send him--Orion--across the Nileto the Arab viceroy to obtain forgiveness for the murder of a Moslem, actually within the precincts of the governor's house. This fatal blowmight indeed entail serious consequences; however, the matter might verylikely be quite other than this. 

When he left his room the brooding heat that filled the house struck himas peculiarly oppressive, and a painful feeling, closely resemblingshame, stole over him as he crossed the viridarium, and glanced at thegrass from which--thanks to Paula's ill-meant warning--he had carefullybrushed away his foot-marks before daybreak. How cowardly, how base, it all was The best of all in life: honor, self-respect, the proudconsciousness of being an honest man--all staked and all lost for nothingat all! He could have slapped his own face or cried aloud like a childthat has broken its most treasured toy. But of what use was all this?What was done could not be undone; and now he must keep his wits abouthim so as to remain, in the eyes of others at least, what he had alwaysbeen, low as he had fallen in his own. 

It was scorchingly hot in the enclosed garden-plot, surrounded bybuildings, and open to the sun; not a human creature was in sight; thehouse seemed dead. The gaudy flag-staffs and trellis-work, and thepillars of the verandah, which had all been newly painted in honor of hisreturn and were still wreathed with garlands, exhaled a smell, to himquite sickening, of melting resin, drying varnish and faded flowers. Though there was no breath of air the atmosphere quivered, as it seemedfrom the fierce rays of the sun, which were reflected like arrows fromeverything around him. The butterflies and dragonflies appeared to Orionto move their wings more languidly as they hovered over the plants andflowers, the very fountain danced up more lazily and not so high asusual: everything about him was hot, sweltering, oppressive; and the manwho had always been so independent and looked up to, who for years hadbeen free to career through life uncontrolled, and guarded by every goodGenius now felt trammelled, hemmed in and harassed. 

In his father's cool fountain-room he could breathe more freely; but onlyfor a moment. The blood faded from his cheeks, and he had to make astrong effort to greet his father calmly and in his usual manner; for infront of the divan where the governor commonly reclined, lay the Persianhanging, and close by stood his mother and the Arab merchant. Sebek, thesteward awaited his master's orders, in the background in the attitude ofhumility which was torture to his old back, but in which he was neverrequired to remain: Orion now signed to him to stand up:

The Arab's mild features wore a look of extreme gravity, and deepvexation could be read in his kindly eyes. As the young man entered hebowed slightly; they had already met that morning. The Mukaukas, who waslying deathly pale with colorless lips, scarcely opened his eyes at hisson's greeting. It might have been thought that a bier was waiting inthe next room and that the mourners had assembled here. 

The piece of work was only half unrolled, but Orion at once saw the spotwhence its crowning glory was now missing--the large emerald which, as healone could know, was on its way to Constantinople. His theft had beendiscovered. How fearful, how fatal might the issue be!

"Courage, courage!" he said to himself. "Only preserve your presenceof mind. What profit is life with loss of honor? Keep your eyes open;everything depends on that, Orion!"

He succeeded in hastily collecting his thoughts, and exclaimed in a voicewhich lacked little of its usual eager cheerfulness:

"How dismal you all look! It is indeed a terrible disaster that the dogshould have handled the poor girl so roughly, and that our people shouldhave behaved so outrageously; but, as I told you this morning, worthyMerchant, the guilty parties shall pay for it with their lives. Myfather, I am sure, will agree that you should deal with them according toyour pleasure, and our leech Philippus, in spite of his youth, is aperfect Hippocrates I can assure you! He will patch up the fine fellow--your head-man I mean, and as to any question of compensation, my father--well, you know he is no haggler. "

"I beg you not to add insult to the injury that I have suffered underyour roof, " interrupted Haschim. "No amount of money can buy off mywrath over the spilt blood of a friend--and Rustem was my friend--a freeand valiant youth. As to the punishment of the guilty: on that I insist. Blood cries for blood. That is our creed; and though yours, to be sure, enjoins the contrary, so far as I know you act by the same rule as we. All honor to your physician; but it goes to my heart, and raises my gallto see such things take place in the house of the man to whom the Khaliffhas confided the weal or woe of Egyptian Christians. Your boastedtolerance has led to the death of an honest though humble man in a timeof perfect peace--or at least maimed him for life. As to your honesty, it would seem. . . "

"Who dares impugn it?" cried Orion. 

"I, young man, " replied the merchant with the calm dignity of age. "I, who sold this piece of work last evening, and find it this morningrobbed of its most precious ornament. "

"The great emerald has been cut from the hanging during the night. " DameNeforis explained. "You yourself went with the man who carried it to thetablinum and saw it laid there. "

"And in the very cloth in which your people had wrapped it, " added Orion. "Our good old Sebek there was with me. Who fetched away the bale thismorning; who brought it here and opened it?"

"Happily for us, " said the Arab, "it was your lady mother herself, withthat man--your steward if I mistake not--and your own slaves. "

"Why was it not left where it was?" asked Orion, giving vent to theannoyance which at this moment he really felt. 

"Because I had assured your father, and with good reason, that the beautyof this splendid work and of the gems that decorate it show to muchgreater advantage by daylight and in the sunshine than under the lampsand torches. "

"And besides, your father wished to see his new purchase once more, "Neforis broke in, "and to ask the merchant how the gems might be removedwithout injury to the work itself. So I went to the tablinum myself withSebek. "

"But I had the key!" cried Orion putting his hand into the breast of hisrobe. 

"That I had forgotten, " replied his mother. "But unfortunately we didnot need it. The tablinum was open. "

"I locked it yesterday; you saw me do it, Sebek. . . "

"So I told the mistress, " replied the steward. "I perfectly recollecthearing the snap of the strong lock. "

Orion shrugged his shoulders, and his mother went on:

But the bronze doors must have been opened during the night with a falsekey, or by some other means; for part of the hanging had been pulled outof the wrapper, and when we looked closely we saw that the large emeraldhad been wrenched out of the setting. "

"Shameful!" exclaimed Orion. 

"Disgraceful!" added the governor, vehemently starting up. He hadfallen a prey to fearful unrest and horror: he thought that his Lord andSaviour, to whom he had dedicated the precious jewel, regarded him as sosinful and worthless that He would not accept the gift at his hands. But perhaps it was only Satan striving to hinder him from approaching theMost High with so noble an offering. At any rate, human cunning had beenat work, so he said with stern resolution:

"The matter shall be enquired into, and in the name of Jesus Christ, towhom the stone already belongs, I will never rest nor cease till thecriminal is in my hands. "

"And in the name of Allah and the Prophet, " added the Arab, "I will aidthee, if I have to appeal for help to the great chief Amru, the Khaliff'srepresentative in this country. --A word was spoken here just now that Icannot and will not forget. And the tone you have chosen to adopt, youngman, seems to spring from the same fount: the old fox, you think, put afalse gem of impossible size into the hanging, and has had it stolen thathis fraud may not be detected when a jeweller examines the work bydaylight. This is too much! I am an honest man, Sirs, and I am fain toadd a rich one; and the man who tries to cast a stain on the character Ihave borne through a long life shall learn, to his ruing, that oldHaschim has greater and more powerful friends to back him than you maycare to meet!"

As he uttered this threat the merchant's eyes glistened through tears; itgrieved him to be unjustly suspected and to be forced to express himselfso hardly to the Mukaukas for whom he felt both reverence and pity. Itwas clear from the tone of his speech that he was in fact a determinedand a powerful personage, and Orion interrupted him with the eagerenquiry: "Who has dared to think so basely of you?"

"Your own mother, I regret to say, " replied the Moslem sadly, with anoriental shrug of distress and annoyance--his shoulders up to his ears. 

"Forget it, I beg of you, " said the governor. "God knows women havesofter hearts than men, and yet they more readily incline to think evilof their fellow-creatures, and particularly of the enemies of theirfaith. On the other hand they are more sensitive to kindness. A woman'shair is long and her wits short, says the saw. "

"You have plenty to say against us women!" retorted Neforis. "But scoldaway--scold if it is a comfort to you!" But she added, while sheaffectionately turned her husband's pillows and gave him another of hiswhite pillules: "I will submit to the worst to-day for I am in the wrong. I have already asked your pardon, worthy Haschim, and I do so again, withall my heart. "

As she spoke, she went up to the Arab and held out her hand; he took it, but lightly, however, and quickly released it, saying:

"I do not find it hard to forgive. But I find it impossible, here oranywhere, to let so much as a grain of dust rest on my bright good name. I shall follow up this affair, turning neither to the right hand nor tothe left. --And now, one question: Is the dog that guarded the tablinum awatchful, savage beast?"

"How savage he is he unfortunately proved on the person of the poorPersian slave; and his watchfulness is known to all the household, " criedOrion. 

"But I would beg you, worthy merchant, " said Neforis, "and in the nameof all present, to give us the help of your experience. I myself--waita little wait: in spite of her long hair and her short wits a woman oftenhas a happy idea. I, probably, was the first to come on the robber'strack. It is clear that he must belong to the household since the dogdid not attack him. Paula, who was so wonderfully quick in coming to therescue of the Persian, is of course not to be thought of. . . "

Here her husband interrupted her with an angry exclamation: "Leave thegirl quite out of the question wife!"

"As if I supposed her to be the thief!" retorted Neforis indignantly, and she shrugged her shoulders as Orion, in mild reproach, also cried:"Mother! consider. . . . " and the merchant asked:

"Do you mean the young girl from whom I had to take such hard words lastnight?--Well, then, I will stake my whole fortune on her innocence. Thatbeautiful, passionate creature is incapable of any underhand dealings. "

"Passionate!" Neforis smiled. "Her heart is as cold and as hard as thelost emerald; we have proved that by experience. "

"Nevertheless, " said Orion, "she is incapable of baseness. "

"How zealous men can be for a pair of fine eyes!" interrupted hismother. "But I have not the most remote suspicion of her; I havesomething quite different in my mind. A pair of man's shoes were foundlying by the wounded girl. Did you do what my lord Orion ordered, Sebek?"

"At once, Mistress, " replied the steward, "and I have been expecting thecaptain of the watch for some time; for Psamtik. . . . "

But here he was interrupted: the officer in question, who for more thantwenty years had commanded the Mukaukas' guard of honor, was shown intothe room; after answering a few preliminary enquiries he began his reportin a voice so loud that it hurt the governor, and his wife was obliged torequest the soldier to speak more gently. 

The bloodhounds and terriers had been let out after being allowed tosmell at the shoes, and a couple of them had soon found their way to theside-door where Hiram had waited for Paula. There they paused, sniffingabout on all sides, and had then jumped up a few steps. 

"And those stairs lead to Paula's room, " observed Neforis with a shrug. 

"But they were on a false scent, " the officer eagerly added. "The littletoads might have thrown suspicion on an innocent person. The cursimmediately after rushed into the stables, and ran up and down like Satanafter a lost soul. The pack had soon pulled down the boy--the son of thefreedman who came here from Damascus with the daughter of the greatThomas--and they went quite mad in his father's room: Heaven and earth!what a howling and barking and yelping. They poked their noses intoevery old rag, and now we knew where the hole in the wine-skin was. --I am sorry for the man. He stammered horribly, but as a trainer, and inall that has to do with horses, all honor to him!--The shoes are Hiram'sas surely as my eyes are in my head; but we have not caught him yet. Heis across the river, for a boat is missing and where it had been lyingthe dogs began again. Unless the unbelievers over there give him shelterwe are certain to have him. "

"Then we know who is the criminal!" cried Orion, with a sigh as deep asthough some great burden were lifted from his soul. Then he went on in acommanding tone--and his voice rang so fiercely that the color which hadmounted to his cheeks could hardly be due to satisfaction at this lastgood news. .. . 

"As it is not yet two hours after noon, send all your men out to searchfor him and deliver him up. My father will give you a warrant, and theArabs on the other shore will assist you. Perhaps the thief may fallinto our hands even sooner and with him the emerald, unless the rogue hassucceeded in hiding it or selling it. " Then his voice sank, and he addedin a tone of regret. It is a pity as concerns the man, we had not one inour stables who knew more about horses! Fresh proof of your maxim, mother: if you want to be well served you must buy rascals!"

"Strictly speaking, " said Neforis meditatively, "Hiram is not one of ourpeople. He was a freedman of Thomas' and came here with his daughter. Every one speaks highly of his skill in the stable; but for this robberywe might have kept him for the rest of his life still, if the girl hadever taken it into her head to leave us and to take him with her, wecould not have detained him. --You may say what you will, and abuse me andmock me; I have none of what you call imagination; I see things simply asthey are: but there must be some understanding between that girl and thethief. "

"You are not to say another word of such monstrous nonsense!" exclaimedher husband; and he would have said more, but that at that moment thegroom of the chambers announced that Gamaliel, the Jewish goldsmith, begged an audience. The man had come to give information with regard tothe fate of the lost emerald. 

At this statement Orion changed color, and he turned away from themerchant as the slave admitted the same Israelite who had been sittingover the fire with the head-servants. He at once plunged into his story, telling it in his peculiar light-hearted style. He was so rich that theloss he might suffer did not trouble him enough to spoil his good-humor, and so honest that it was a pleasure to him to restore the stolenproperty to its rightful owner. Early that morning, so he told them, Hiram the groom had been to him to offer him a wonderfully large andsplendid emerald for sale. The freedman had assured him that the stonewas part of the property left by the famous Thomas, his former master. It had decorated the head-stall of the horse which the hero of Damascushad last ridden, and it had come to him with the steed. 

"I offered him what I thought fair, " the Jew went on, "and paid him twothousand drachmae on account; the remainder he begged me to take chargeof for the present. To this I agreed, but ere long a fly began to humsuspicion in my ear. Then the police rushed through the town with thebloodhounds. Good Heavens, what a barking! The creatures yelped as ifthey would bark my poor house down, like the trumpets round the walls ofJericho--you know. 'What is the matter now, ' I asked of the dog-keepers, and behold! my suspicions about the emerald were justified; so here, mylord Governor, I have brought you the stone, and as every suckling inMemphis hears from its nurse--unless it is deaf--what a just man MukaukasGeorge is, you will no doubt make good to me what I advanced to thatstammering scoundrel. And you will have the best of the bargain, nobleSir; for I make no demand for interest or even maintenance for the twohours during which it was mine. "

"Give me the stone !" interrupted the Arab, who was annoyed by the Jew'sjesting tone; he snatched the emerald from him, weighed it in his hand, put it close to his eyes, held it far off, tapped it with a small hammerthat he took out of his breast-pocket, slipped it into its place in thework, examining it keenly, suspiciously, and at last with satisfaction. During all this, Orion had more than once turned pale, and the sweatbroke out on his handsome, pale face. Had a miracle been wrought here?How could this gem, which was surely on its way to Alexandria, have foundits way into the Jew's hands? Or could Chusar have opened the littlepacket and have sold the emerald to Hiram, and through him to thejeweller? He must get to the bottom of it, and while the Arab wasexamining the gem he went up to Gamaliel and asked him: "Are youpositively certain--it is a matter of freedom or the dungeon--certainthat you had this stone from Hiram the Syrian and from no one else?I mean, is the man so well-known to you that no mistake is possible?"

"God preserve us!" exclaimed the Jew drawing back a step from Orion, who was gazing at him with a sinister light in his eyes. "How can mylord doubt it? Your respected father has known me these thirty years, and do you suppose that I--I do not know the Syrian? Why, who in Memphiscan stammer to compare with him? And has he not killed half my childrenwith your wild young horses?--Half killed every one of my children I mean--half killed them, I say, with fright. They are all still alive andwell, God preserve them, but none the better for your horsebreaker; forfresh air is good for children and my little Rebecca would stop indoorstill he was at home again for fear of his terrifying pranks. "

"Well, well!" Orion broke in. "And at what hour did he bring you theemerald for sale? Exactly. Now, recollect: when was it? You surelymust remember. "

"Adonai! How should I?" said the Jew. "But wait, Sir, perhaps I may beable to tell you. In this hot weather we are up before sunrise; then wesaid our prayers and had our morning broth; then. . . . "

"Senseless chatter!" urged Orion. But Gamaliel went on without allowinghimself to be checked. "Then little Ruth jumped into my lap to pull outthe white hairs that will grow under my nose and, just as the child wasdoing it and I cried out: 'Oh, you hurt me!' the sun fell upon the earthbank on which I was sitting. "

"And at what time does it reach the bank?" cried the young man. 

"Exactly two hours after sunrise, " replied the Jew, "at this time ofyear. Do me the honor of a visit tomorrow morning; you will not regretit, for I can show you some beautiful, exquisite things--and you canwatch the shadow yourself. "

"Two hours after sunrise, " murmured Orion to himself, and then with freshqualms he reflected that it was fully four hours later when he had giventhe packet to Chusar. It was impossible to doubt the Jew's statement. The man was rich, honest and content: he did not lie. The jewel Orionhad sent away and that purchased from Hiram could not in any case beidentical. But how could all this be explained? It was enough to turnhis brain. And not to dare to speak when mere silence was falsehood--falsehood to his father and mother!--If only the hapless stammerer mightescape! If he were caught; then--then merciful Heaven! But no; it wasnot to be thought of. --On, then, on; and if it came to the worst thehonor of a hundred stablemen could not outweigh that of one Orion;horrible as it was, the man must be sacrificed. He would see that hislife was spared and that he was soon set at liberty!

The Arab meanwhile had concluded his examination; still he was notperfectly satisfied. Orion longed to interpose; for if the merchantexpressed no doubts and acknowledged the recovered gem to be the stolenone, much would be gained; so he turned to him again and said: "May I askyou to show me the emerald once more? It is quite impossible, do youthink, that a second should be found to match it?"

"That is too much to assert, " said the Arab gravely. "This stoneresembles that on the hanging to a hair; and yet it has a littleinequality which I do not remember noticing on it. It is true I hadnever seen it out of the setting, and this little boss may have beenturned towards the stuff, and yet, and yet. --Tell me, goldsmith, did thethief give you the emerald bare--unset?"

"As bare as Adam and Eve before they ate the apple, " said the Jew. 

"That is a pity--a great pity!--And still I fancy that the stone inthe work was a trifle longer. In such a case it is almost folly andperversity to doubt, and yet I feel--and yet I ask myself: Is this reallythe stone that formed that bud?"

"But Heaven bless us!" cried Orion, "the twin of such an unique gemwould surely not drop from the skies and at the same moment into one andthe same house. Let us be glad that the lost sheep has come back to us. Now, I will lock it into this iron casket, Father, and as soon as therobber is caught you send for me: do you understand, Psamtik?" He noddedto his parents, offered his hand to the Arab, and that in a way whichcould not fail to satisfy any one, so that even the old man was won over;and then he left the room. 

The merchant's honor was saved; still his conscientious soul wasdisturbed by a doubt that he could not away with. He was about to takeleave but the Mukaukas was so buried in pillows, and kept his eyes soclosely shut, that no one could detect whether he were sleeping orwaking; so the Arab, not wishing to disturb him, withdrew withoutspeaking. 

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

Ancient custom, to have her ears cut offCaught the infection and had to laugh whether she would or noGave them a claim on your person and also on your sorrowsHow could they find so much pleasure in such follyOf two evils it is wise to choose the lesserPrepared for the worst; then you are armed against failureWho can hope to win love that gives noneWho can take pleasure in always seeing a gloomy face?