[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 3. 

CHAPTER X. 

After the great excitement of the night Paula had thrown herself on herbed with throbbing pulses. Sleep would not come to her, and so at rathermore than two hours after sunrise she went to the window to close theshutters. As she did so she looked out, and she saw Hiram leap into aboat and push the light bark from the shore. She dared neither signalnor call to him; but when the faithful soul had reached open water helooked back at her window, recognized her in her white morning dress andflourished the oar high in the air. This could only mean that he hadfulfilled his commission and sold her jewel. Now he was going to theother side to engage the Nabathaean. 

When she had closed the shutters and darkened the room she again laydown. Youth asserted its rights the weary girl fell into deep, dreamlessslumbers. 

When she woke, with the heat drops on her forehead, the sun was nearly atthe meridian, only an hour till the Ariston would be served, the Greekbreakfast, the first meal in the morning, which the family eat togetheras they also did the principal meal later in the clay. She had never yetfailed to appear, and her absence would excite remark. 

The governor's household, like that of every Egyptian of rank, wasconducted more on the Greek than the Egyptian plan; and this was the casenot merely as regarded the meals but in many other things, and especiallythe language spoken. From the Mukaukas himself down to the youngestmember of the family, all spoke Greek among themselves, and Coptic, theold native dialect, only to the servants. Nay, many borrowed and foreignwords had already crept into use in the Coptic. 

The governor's granddaughter, pretty little Mary, had learnt to speakGreek fluently and correctly before she spoke Coptic, but when Paula hadfirst arrived she could not as yet write the beautiful language of Greecewith due accuracy. Paula loved children; she longed for some occupation, and she had therefore volunteered to instruct the little girl in the art. At first her hosts had seemed pleased that she should render thisservice, but ere long the relation between the Lady Neforis and herhusband's niece had taken the unpleasant aspect which it was destined toretain. She had put a stop to the lessons, and the reason she hadassigned for this insulting step was that Paula had dictated to her pupillong sentences out of her Orthodox Greek prayerbook. This, it was true, she had done; but without the smallest concealment; and the passages shehad chosen had contained nothing but what must elevate the soul of everyChristian, of whatever confession. 

The child had wept bitterly over her grandmother's fiat, though Paula hadalways taken the lessons quite seriously, for Mary loved her oldercompanion with all the enthusiasm of a half-grown girl--as a child of tenreally is in Egypt; her passionate little heart worshipped the beautifulmaiden who was in every respect so far above her, and Paula's arms hadopened wide to embrace the child who brought sunshine into the gloomy, chill atmosphere she breathed in her uncle's house. But Neforis regardedthe child's ardent love for her Melchite relation as exaggerated andmorbid, imperilling perhaps her religious faith; and she fancied thatunder Paula's influence Mary had transferred her affections from her tothe younger woman with added warmth. Nor was this idea wholly fanciful;the child's strong sense of justice could not bear to see her friendmisunderstood and slighted, often simply and entirely misjudged andhardly blamed, so Mary felt it her duty, as far as in her lay, to make upfor her grandmother's delinquencies in regard to the guest who in thechild's eyes was perfection. 

But Neforis was not the woman to put up with this demeanor in a child. Mary was her granddaughter, the only child of her lost son, and no oneshould come between them. So she forbid the little girl to go to Paula'sroom without an express message, and when a Greek teacher was engaged forher, her instructions were that she should keep her pupil as much aspossible out of the Syrian damsel's way. All this only fanned thechild's vehement affection; and tenderly as her grandmother wouldsometimes caress her--while Mary on her part never failed in dutifulobedience--neither of them ever felt a true and steady warmth of hearttowards the other; and for this Paula was no doubt to blame, thoughagainst her will and by her mere existence. 

Often, indeed, and by a hundred covert hints Dame Neforis gave Paula tounderstand that she it was who had alienated her grandchild; there wasnothing for it but to keep the child for whom she yearned, at a distance, and only rarely reveal to her the abundance of her love. At last herlife was so full of grievance that she was hardly able to be innocentwith the innocent--a child with the child; Mary was not slow to notethis, and ascribed Paula's altered manner to the suffering caused byher grandmother's severity. 

Mary's most frequent opportunities of speaking to her friend werejust before meals; for at that time no one was watching her, and hergrandmother had not forbidden her calling Paula to table. A visit to herroom was the child's greatest delight--partly because it was forbidden--but no less because Paula, up in her own room, was quite different fromwhat she seemed with the others, and because they could there look ateach other and kiss without interference, and say what ever they pleased. There Mary could tell her as much as she dared of the events in theirlittle circle, but the lively and sometimes hoydenish little girl wasoften withheld from confessing a misdemeanor, or even an inoffensivepiece of childishness, by sheer admiration for one who to her appearednobler, greater and loftier than other beings. 

Just as Paula had finished putting up her hair, Mary, who would rush likea whirlwind even into her grandmother's presence, knocked humbly at thedoor. She did not fly into Paula's arms as she did into those ofSusannah or her daughter Katharina, but only kissed her white arm withfervent devotion, and colored with happiness when Paula bent down to her, pressed her lips to her brow and hair, and wiped her wet, glowing cheeks. Then she took Mary's head fondly between her hands and said:

"What is wrong with you, madcap?"

In fact the sweet little face was crimson, and her eyes swelled as if shehad been crying violently. 

"It is so fearfully hot, " said Mary. "Eudoxia"--her Greek governess--"says that Egypt in summer is a fiery furnace, a hell upon earth. She isquite ill with the heat, and lies like a fish on the sand; the only goodthing about it is. . . "

"That she lets you run off and gives you no lessons?"

Mary nodded, but as no lecture followed the confession she put her headon one side and looked up into Paula's face with large roguish eyes. 

"And yet you have been crying!--a great girl like you?"

"I--I crying?"

"Yes, crying. I can see it in your eyes. Now confess: what hashappened?"

"You will not scold me?"

"Certainly not. "

"Well then. At first it was fun, such fun you cannot think, and I donot mind the heat; but when the great hunt had gone by I wanted to goto my grand mother and I was not allowed. Do you know, something veryparticular had been going on in the fountain-room; and as they allcame out again I crept behind Orion into the tablinum--there are suchwonderful things there, and I wanted just to frighten him a little;we have often played games together before. At first he did not see me, and as he was bending over the hanging, from which the gem was stolen--Ibelieve he was counting the stones in the faded old thing--I just jumpedon to his shoulder, and he was so frightened--I can tell you, awfullyfrightened! And he turned upon me like a fighting-cock and--and he gaveme a box on the ear; such a slap, it is burning now--and all sorts ofcolors danced before my eyes. He always used to be so nice and kind tome, and to you, too, and so I used to be fond of him--he is my uncle too--but a box on the ears, a slap such as the cook might give to theturnspit--I am too big for that; that I will certainly not put up withit! Since my last birthday all the slaves and upper servants, too, havehad to treat me as a lady and to bow down to me! And now!--it was justhere. --How dare he?" She began to cry again and sobbed out: "But thatwas not all. He locked me into the dark tablinum and left--left me. .. . "her tears flowed faster and faster, "left me sitting there! It was sohorrible; and I might have been there now if I had not found a goldplate; I seized my great-grandfather--I mean the silver image of Menas, and hammered on it, and screamed Fire! Then Sebek heard me and fetchedOrion, and he let me out, and made such a fuss over me and kissed me. But what is the good of that; my grandfather will be angry, for in myterror I beat his father's nose quite flat on the plate. "

Paula had listened, now amused and now grave, to the little girl's story;when she ceased, she once more wiped her eyes and said:

"Your uncle is a man, and you must not play with him as if he were achild like yourself. The reminder you got was rather a hard one, nodoubt, but Orion tried to make up for it. --But the great hunt, what wasthat?"

At this question Mary's eyes suddenly sparkled again. In an instant allher woes were forgotten, even her ancestor's flattened nose, and with amerry, hearty laugh she exclaimed:

"Oh! you should have seen it! You would have been amused too. Theywanted to catch the bad man who cut the emerald out of the hanging. Hehad left his shoes and they had held them under the dogs' noses and thenoff they went! First they rushed here to the stairs; then to thestables, then to the lodgings of one of the horse-trainers, and I keptclose behind, after the terriers and the other dogs. Then they stoppedto consider and at last they all ran out at the gate towards the town. Iought not to have gone beyond the court-yard, but--do not be cross withme--it was such fun!--Out they went, along Hapi Street, across thesquare, and at last into the Goldsmith's Street, and there the whole packplunged into Gamaliel's shop--the Jew who is always so merry. While hewas talking to the others his wife gave me some apricot tartlets; we donot have such good ones at home. "

"And did they find the man?" asked Paula, who had changed colorrepeatedly during the child's story. 

"I do not know, " said Mary sadly. "They were not chasing any one inparticular. The dogs kept their noses to the ground, and we ran afterthem. "

"And only to catch a man, who certainly had nothing whatever to do withthe theft. --Reflect a little, Mary. The shoes gave the dogs the scentand they were set on to seize the man who had worn them, but whom nojudge had examined. The shoes were found in the hall; perhaps he haddropped them by accident, or some one else may have carried them there. Now think of yourself in the place of an innocent man, a Christian likeourselves, hunted with a pack of dogs like a wild beast. Is it notfrightful? No good heart should laugh at such a thing!"

Paula spoke with such impressive gravity and deep sorrow, and her wholemanner betrayed such great and genuine distress that the child looked tipat her anxiously, with tearful eyes, threw herself against her, andhiding her face in Paula's dress exclaimed: "I did not know that theywere hunting a poor man, and if it makes you so sad, I wish I had notbeen there! But is it really and truly so bad? You are so often unhappywhen we others laugh!" She gazed into Paula's face with wide, wonderingeyes through her tears, and Paula clasped her to her, kissed her fondly, and replied with melancholy sweetness:

"I would gladly be as gay as you, but I have gone through so much tosadden me. Laugh and be merry to your heart's content; I am glad youshould. But with regard to the poor hunted man, I fear he is myfather's freedman, the most faithful, honest soul! Did your excitinghunt drive any one out of the goldsmith's shop?"

Mary shook her head; then she asked:

"Is it Hiram, the stammerer, the trainer, that they are hunting?"

"I fear it is. "

"Yes, yes, " said the child. "Stay--oh, dear! it will grieve you again, but I think--I think they said--the shoes belonged--but I did not attend. However, they were talking of a groom--a freedman--a stammerer. . . . "

"Then they certainly are hunting down an innocent man, " cried Paula witha deep sigh; and she sat down again in front of her toilet-table tofinish dressing. Her hands still moved mechanically, but she was lost inthought; she answered the child vaguely, and let her rummage in her opentrunk till Mary pulled out the necklace that had been bereft of its gem, and hung it round her neck. Just then there was a knock at thedoor and Katharina, the widow Susannah's little daughter, came into theroom. The young girl, to whom the governor's wife wished to marry hertall son scarcely reached to Paula's shoulder, but she was plump andpleasant to look upon; as neat as if she had just been taken out of abox, with a fresh, merry lovable little face. When she laughed sheshowed a gleaming row of small teeth, set rather wide apart, but as whiteas snow; and her bright eyes beamed on the world as gladly as though theyhad nothing that was not pleasing to look for, innocent mischief to dreamof. She too, tried to win Paula's favor; but with none of Mary's devotedand unvarying enthusiasm. Often, to be sure, she would devote herself toPaula with such stormy vehemence that the elder girl was forced to berepellent; then, on the other hand, if she fancied her self slighted, ortreated more coolly than Mary, she would turn her back on Paula withsulky jealousy, temper and pouting. It always was in Paula's power toput an end to the "Water-wagtails tantrums"--which generally had theircomic side--by a kind word or kiss; but without some such advancesKatharina was quite capable of indulging her humors to the utmost. 

On the present occasion she flew into Paula's arm, and when her friendbegged, more quietly than usual that she would allow her first to finishdressing, she turned away without any display of touchiness and tookthe necklace from Mary's hand to put it on herself. It was of fineworkmanship, set with pearls, and took her fancy greatly; only the emptymedallion from which Hiram had removed the emerald with his knife spoiledthe whole effect. Still, it was a princely jewel, and when she had alsotaken from the chest a large fan of ostrich feathers she showed off toher play-fellow, with droll, stiff dignity, how the empress andprincesses at Court curtsied and bowed graciously to their inferiors. At this they both laughed a great deal. When Paula had finished hertoilet and proceeded to take the necklace off Katharina, the emptysetting, which Hiram's knife had bent, caught in the thin tissue of herdress. Mary disengaged it, and Paula tossed the jewel back into thetrunk. 

While she was locking the box she asked Katharina whether she had metOrion. 

"Orion!" repeated the younger girl, in a tone which implied that shealone had the right to enquire about him. "Yes, we came upstairstogether; he went to see the wounded man. Have you anything to say tohim?"

She crimsoned as she spoke and looked suspiciously at Paula, who simplyreplied: "Perhaps, " and then added, as she hung the ribbon with the keyround her neck: "Now, you little girls, it is breakfast time; I am notgoing down to-day. "

"Oh, dear!" cried Mary disappointed, "my grandfather is ailing andgrandmother will stay with him; so if you do not come I shall have to sitalone with Eudoxia; for Katharina's chariot is waiting and she must gohome at once. Oh! do come. Just to please me; you do not know howodious Eudoxia can be when it is so hot. "

"Yes, do go down, " urged Katharina. "What will you do up herebyyourself? And this evening mother and I will come again. "

"Very well, " said Paula. "But first I must go to see the invalids. "

"May I go with you?" asked the Water wagtail, coaxingly stroking Paula'sarm. But Mary clapped her hands, exclaiming:

"She only wants to go to Orion--she is so fond of him. . . . "

Katharina put her hand over the child's mouth, but Paula, with quickenedbreath, explained that she had very serious matters to discuss withOrion; so Katharina, turning her back on her with a hasty gesture ofdefiance, sulkily went down stairs, while Mary slipped down the bannisterrail. Not many days since, Katharina, who was but just sixteen, wouldgladly have followed her example. 

Paula meanwhile knocked at the first of the sickrooms and entered it assoftly as the door was opened by a nursing-sister from the convent of St. Katharine. Orion, whom she was seeking, had been there, but had justleft. 

In this first room lay the leader of the caravan; in that beyond was thecrazy Persian. In a sitting-room adjoining the first room, which, beingintended for guests of distinction, was furnished with royalmagnificence, sat two men in earnest conversation: the Arab merchant andPhilippus the physician, a young man of little more than thirty, tall andbony, in a dress of clean but very coarse stuff without any kind ofadornment. He had a shrewd, pale face, out of which a pair of brightblack eyes shone benevolently but with keen vivacity. His large cheek-bones were much too prominent; the lower part of his face was small, uglyand, as it were, compressed, while his high broad forehead crowned thewhole and stamped it as that of a thinker, as a fine cupola may crown aninsignificant and homely structure. 

This man, devoid of charm, though his strongly-characterizedindividuality made it difficult to overlook him even in the midst ofa distinguished circle, had been conversing eagerly with the Arab, who, in the course of their two-days' acquaintance, had inspired him with aregard which was fully reciprocated. At last Orion had been the theme oftheir discourse, and the physician, a restless toiler who could not likeany man whose life was one of idle enjoyment, though he did full justiceto his brilliant gifts and well-applied studies, had judged him far morehardly than the older man. To the leech all forms of human life weresacred, and in his eyes everything that could injure the body or soul ofa man was worthy of destruction. He knew all that Orion had brought uponthe hapless Mandane, and how lightly he had trifled with the hearts ofother women; in his eyes this made him a mischievous and criminal memberof society. He regarded life as an obligation to be discharged by workalone, of whatever kind, if only it were a benefit to society as a whole. And such youths as Orion not only did not recognize this, but used thewhole and the parts also for base and selfish ends. The old Moslem, onthe contrary, viewed life as a dream whose fairest portion, the time ofyouth, each one should enjoy with alert senses, and only take care thatat the waking which must come with death he might hope to find admissioninto Paradise. How little could man do against the iron force of fate!That could not be forefended by hard work; there was nothing for it butto take up a right attitude, and to confront and meet it with dignity. The bark of Orion's existence lacked ballast; in fine weather it driftedwherever the breeze carried it, He himself had taken care to equip itwell; and if only the chances of life should freight it heavily--veryheavily, and fling it on the rocks, then Orion might show who and what hewas; he, Haschim, firmly believed that his character would prove itselfadmirable. It was in the hour of shipwreck that a man showed his worth. 

Here the physician interrupted him to prove that it was not Fate, asimagined by Moslems, but man himself who guided the bark of life--but atthis moment Paula looked into the room, and he broke off. The merchantbowed profoundly, Philippus respectfully, but with more embarrassmentthan might have been expected from the general confidence of his manner. For some years he had been a daily visitor in the governor's house, andafter carefully ignoring Paula on her first arrival, since Dame Neforishad taken to treating her so coolly he drew her out whenever he had theopportunity. Her conversations with him had now become dear and evennecessary to her, though at first his dry, cutting tone had displeasedher, and he had often driven her into a corner in a way that was hard tobear. They kept her mind alert in a circle which never busied itselfwith anything but the trivial details of family life in the decayed city, or with dogmatic polemics--for the Mukaukas seldom or never took part inthe gossip of the women. 

The leech never talked of daily events, but expressed his views as toother and graver subjects in life, or in books with which they were bothfamiliar; and he had the art of eliciting replies from her which he metwith wit and acumen. By degrees she had become accustomed to his boldmode of thought, sometimes, it is true, too recklessly expressed; and thegifted girl now preferred a discussion with him to any other form ofconversation, recognizing that a childlike and supremely unselfish soulanimated this thoughtful reservoir of all knowledge. Almost everythingshe did displeased her uncle's wife, and so, of course, did her familiarintercourse with this man, whose appearance certainly had in it nothingto attract a young girl. --The physician to a family of rank was there tokeep its members in good health, and it was unbecoming in one of them toconverse with him on intimate terms as an equal. She reproached Paula--whose pride she was constantly blaming--for her unseemly condescensionto Philippus; but what chiefly annoyed her was that Paula took up manya half-hour which otherwise Philippus would have devoted to her husband;and in him and his health her life and thoughts were centred. 

The Arab at once recognized his foe of the previous evening; but theysoon came to a friendly understanding--Paula confessing her folly inholding a single and kindly-disposed man answerable for the crimes of awhole nation. Haschim replied that a right-minded spirit always came toa just conclusion at last; and then the conversation turned on herfather, and the physician explained to the Arab that she was resolvednever to weary of seeking the missing man. 

"Nay, it is the sole aim and end of my life, " cried the girl. 

"A great mistake, in my opinion, " said the leech. But the merchantdiffered: there were things, he said, too precious to be given up forlost, even when the hope of finding them seemed as feeble and thin as arotten reed. 

"That is what I feel!" cried Paula. "And how can you think differently, Philip? Have I not heard from your own lips that you never give up allhope of a sick man till death has put an end to it? Well, and I cling tomine--more than ever now, and I feel that I am right. My last thought, my last coin shall be spent in the search for my father, even without myuncle and his wife, and in spite of their prohibition. "

"But in such a task a young girl can hardly do without a man's succor, "said the merchant. "I wander a great deal about the world, I speak withmany foreigners from distant lands, and if you will do me the honor, prayregard me as your coadjutor, and allow me to help you in seeking for thelost hero. "

"Thanks--I fervently thank you!" cried Paula, grasping the Moslem's handwith hearty pleasure. "Wherever you go bear my lost father in mind; I ambut a poor, lonely girl, but if you find him. . . "

"Then you will know that even among the Moslems there are men. . . "

"Men who are ready to show compassion and to succor friendless women!"interrupted Paula. 

"And with good success, by the blessing of the Almighty, " replied theArab. "As soon as I find a clue you shall hear from me; now, however, I must go across the Nile to see Amru the great general; I go in allconfidence for I know that my poor, brave Rustem is in good hands, friendPhilippus. My first enquiries shall be made in Fostat, rely upon that, my daughter. "

"I do indeed, " said Paula with pleased emotion. "When shall we meetagain?"

"To-morrow, or the morning after at latest. "

The young girl went up to him and whispered: "We have just heard of aclue; indeed, I hope my messenger is already on his way. Have you timeto hear about it now?"

"I ought long since to have been on the other shore; so not to-day, butto-morrow I hope. " The Arab shook hands with her and the physician, andhastily took his leave. 

Paula stood still, thinking. Then it struck her that Hiram was now onthe further side of the Nile, within the jurisdiction of the Arab ruler, and that the merchant could perhaps intercede for him, if she were totell him all she knew. She felt the fullest confidence in the old man, whose kind and sympathetic face was still visible to her mind's eye, andwithout paying any further heed to the physician she went quickly towardsthe door of the sick-room. A crucifix hung close by, and the nun hadfallen on her knees before it, praying for her infidel patient, andbeseeching the Good Shepherd to have mercy on the sheep that was not ofHis fold. Paula did not venture to disturb the worshipper, who waskneeling just in the narrow passage; so some minutes elapsed before theleech, observing her uneasiness, came out of the larger room, touched thenun on the shoulder, and said in a low voice of genuine kindness:

"One moment, good Sister. Your pious intercession will be heard--butthis damsel is in haste. " The nun rose at once and made way, sending awrathful glance after Paula as she hurried down the stairs. 

At the door of the court-yard she looked out and about for the Arab, butin vain. Then she enquired of a slave who told her that the merchant'shorse had waited for him at the gate a long time, that he had just comegalloping out, and by this time must have reached the bridge of boatswhich connected Memphis with the island of Rodah and, beyond the island, with the fort of Babylon and the new town of Fostat. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Paula went up-stairs again, distressed and vexed with herself. Was itthe heat that had enervated her and robbed her of the presence of mindshe usually had at her command? She herself could not understand how itwas that she had not at once taken advantage of the opportunity to pleadto Haschim for her faithful retainer. The merchant might have interestedhimself for Hiram. 

The slave at the gate had told her that he had not yet been taken; thetime to intercede, then, had not yet come. But she was resolved to doso, to draw the wrath of her relations down on herself, and, if needshould be, to relate all she had seen in the course of the night, to saveher devoted servant. It was no less than her duty: still, beforehumiliating Orion so deeply she would warn him. The thought of charginghim with so shameful a deed pained her like the need for inflicting aninjury on herself. She hated him, but she would rather have broken themost precious work of art than have branded him--him whose image stillreigned in her heart, supremely glorious and attractive. 

Instead of following Mary to breakfast, or offering herself as usual toplay draughts with her uncle, she went back to the sick-room. To meetNeforis or Orion at this moment would have been painful, indeed odiousto her. It was long since she had felt so weary and oppressed. A conversation with the physician might perhaps prove refreshing; afterthe various agitations of the last few hours she longed for something, beit what it might, that should revive her spirits and give a fresh turn toher thoughts. 

In the Masdakite's room the Sister coldly asked her what she wanted, andwho had given her leave to assist in tending the sufferers. The leech, who at that moment was moistening the bandage on the wounded man's head, at this turned to the nun and informed her decidedly that he desired theyoung girl's assistance in attending on both his patients. Then he ledthe way sitting-room, saying in subdued into the adjoining tones:

"For the present all is well. Let us rest here a little while. "

She sat down on a divan, and he on a seat opposite, and Philippus began:

"You were seeking handsome Orion just now, but you must. . . . "

"What?" she asked gravely. "And I would have you to know that the sonof the house is no more to me than his mother is. Your phrase 'HandsomeOrion' seems to imply something that I do not again wish to hear. But Imust speak to him, and soon, in reference to an important matter. "

"To what, then, do I owe the pleasure of seeing you here again? Toconfess the truth I did not hope for your return. "

"And why not?"

"Excuse me from answering. No one likes to hear unpleasant things. Ifone of my profession thinks any one is not well. . . . "

"If that is meant for me, " replied the girl, "all I can tell you is thatthe one thing on which I still can pride myself is my health. Say whatyou will--the very worst for aught I care. I want something to-day torouse me from lethargy, even if it should make me angry. "

"Very well then, " replied the leech, "though I am plunging into deepwaters!--As to health, as it is commonly understood, a fish might envyyou; but the higher health--health of mind: that I fear you cannot boastof. "

"This is a serious beginning, " said Paula. "Your reproof would seem toimply that I have done you or some one else a wrong. "

"If only you had!" exclaimed he. "No, you have not sinned against us inany way. --'I am as I am' is what you think of yourself; and what do youcare for others?"

"That must depend on whom you mean by 'others!'"

"Nothing less than all and each of those with whom you live--here, inthis house, in this town, in this world. To you they are mere air--orless; for the air is a tangible thing that can fill a ship's sails anddrive it against the stream, whose varying nature can bring comfort orsuffering to your body. "

"My world is within!" said Paula, laying her hand on her heart. 

"Very true. And all creation may find room there; for what cannot thehuman heart, as it is called, contain! The more we require it to takeand keep, the more ready it is to hold it. It is unsafe to let the lockrust; for, if once it has grown stiff, when we want to open it no pullingand wrenching will avail. And besides--but I do not want to grieve you. --You have a habit of only looking backwards. .. . "

"And what that is pleasurable lies before me? Your blame is harsh and atthe same time unjust. --Indeed, and how can you tell which way I look?"

"Because I have watched you with the eye of a friend. In truth, Paula, you have forgotten how to look around and forward. The life which liesbehind you and which you have lost is all your world. I once showed youon a fragmentary papyrus that belonged to my foster father, Horus Apollo, a heathen demon represented as going forwards, while his head was turnedon his neck so that the face and eyes looked behind him. "

"I remember it perfectly. "

Well, you have long been just like him. 'All things move, ' saysHeraclitus, so you are forced to float onwards with the great stream;or, to vary the image, you must walk forwards on the high-road of lifetowards the common goal; but your eye is fixed on what lies behind you, feasting on the prospect of a handsome and wealthy home, kindness andtenderness, noble and loving faces, and a happy, but alas! long-lostexistence. All the same, on you must go. --What must the result be?"

"I must stumble, you think, and fall?"

The physician's reproof had hit Paula all the harder because she couldnot conceal from herself that there was much truth in it. She had comehither on purpose to find encouragement, and these accusations troubledeven her sense of high health. Why should she submit to be taken to tasklike a school-girl by this man, himself still young? If this went on shewould let him hear. .. . But he was speaking again, and his reply calmedher, and strengthened her conviction that he was a true and well-meaningfriend. 

"Not that perhaps, " he said, "because--well, because nature has blessedyou with perfect balance, and you go forward in full self-possession asbecomes the daughter of a hero. We must not forget that it is of yoursoul that I am speaking; and that maintains its innate dignity of feelingamong so much that is petty and mean. "

"Then why need I fear to look back when it gives me so much comfort?"she eagerly enquired, as she gazed in his face with fresh spirit. 

"Because it may easily lead you to tread on other people's feet! Thathurts them; then they are annoyed, and they get accustomed to thinkgrudgingly of you--you who are more lovable than they are. "

"But quite unjustly; for I am not conscious of ever having intentionallygrieved or hurt any one in my whole life. "

"I know that; but you have done so unintentionally a thousand times. "

"Then it would be better I should quit them altogether. "

"No, and a thousand times no! The man who avoids his kind and lives insolitude fancies he is doing some great thing and raising himself abovethe level of the existence he despises. But look a little closer: it isself-interest and egoism which drive him into the cave and the cloister. In any case he neglects his highest duty towards humanity--or let us saymerely towards the society he belongs to--in order to win what hebelieves to be his own salvation. Society is a great body, and everyindividual should regard himself as a member of it, bound to serve andsuccor it, and even, when necessary, to make sacrifices for it. Thegreatest are not too great. But those who crave isolation, --youyourself--nay, hear me out, for I may never again risk the danger ofincurring your wrath--desire to be a body apart. What Paula has knownand possessed, she keeps locked in the treasure-house of her memory underbolt and key; What Paula is, she feels she still must be--and for whom?Again, for that same Paula. She has suffered great sorrow and on thather soul lives; but this is evil nourishment, unwholesome and bad forher. "

She was about to rise; but he bent forward, with a zealous convictionthat he must not allow himself to be interrupted, and lightly touched herarm as though to prevent her quitting her seat, while he went onunhesitatingly:

"You feed on your old sorrows! Well and good. Many a time have I seenthat trial can elevate the soul. It can teach a brave heart to feel thewoes of others more deeply; it can rouse a desire to assuage the griefsof others with beautiful self-devotion. Those who have known pain andaffliction enjoy ease and pleasure with double satisfaction; suffererslearn to be grateful for even the smaller joys of life. But you?--I have long striven for courage to tell you so--you derive no benefitfrom suffering because you lock it up in your breast--as if a man were toenclose some precious seed in a silver trinket to carry about with him. It should be sown in the earth, to sprout and bear fruit! However, I donot blame you; I only wish to advise you as a true and devoted friend. Learn to feel yourself a member of the body to which your destiny hasbound you for the present, whether you like it or not. Try to contributeto it all that your capacities allow you achieve. You will find that youcan do something for it; the casket will open, and to your surprise anddelight you will perceive that the seed dropped into the soil willgerminate, that flowers will open and fruit will form of which you maymake bread, or extract from it a balm for yourself or for others! Thenyou will leave the dead to bury the dead, as the Bible has it, anddedicate to the living those great powers and gracious gifts which anillustrious father and a noble mother--nay, and a long succession ofdistinguished ancestors, have bequeathed to a descendant worthy of them. Then you will recover that which you have lost: the joy in existencewhich we ought both to feel and to diffuse, because it brings with it anobligation which it which is only granted to us once to fulfil. Kindfate has fitted you above a hundred thousand others for being loved; andif you do not forget the gratitude you owe for that, hearts will beturned to you, though now they shun the tree which has beset itselfintentionally with thorns, and which lets its branches droop like theweeping-willows by the Nile. Thus you will lead a new and beautifullife, receiving and giving joy. The isolated and charmless existence youdrag through here, to the satisfaction of none and least of all to yourown, you can transform to one of fruition and satisfaction--breathing andmoving healthily and beneficently in the light of day. It lies in yourpower. When you came up here to give your care to these poor injuredcreatures, you took the first step in the new path I desire to show you, to true happiness. I did not expect you, and I am thankful that you havecome; for I know that as you entered that door you may have started onthe road to renewed happiness, if you have the will to walk in it. --ThankGod! That is said and over!"

The leech rose and wiped his forehead, looking uneasily at Paula who hadremained seated; her breath came fast, and she was more confused andundecided than he had ever seen her. She clasped her hand over her brow, and gazed, speechless, into her lap as though she wished to smother somepain. 

The young physician beat his arms together, like a laborer in the winterwhen his hands are frozen, and exclaimed with distressful emotion: "Yes, I have spoken, and I cannot regret having done so; but what I foresaw hascome to pass: The greatest happiness that ever sweetened my daily lifeis gone out of it! To love Plato is a noble rule, but greater than Platois the truth; and yet, those who preach it must be prepared to find thattruth scares away friends from the unpleasing vicinity of its ill-starredApostles!"

At this Paula rose, and following the impulse of her generous heart, offered the leech her hand in all sincerity; he grasped it in both his, pressing it so tightly that it almost hurt her, and his eyes glistenedwith moisture as he exclaimed: "That is as I hoped; that is splendid, that is noble! Let me but be your brother, high-souled maiden!--Now, come. That poor, crazy, lovely girl will heal of her death-wound underyour hands if under any!"

"I will come!" she replied heartily; and there was something healthy andcheerful in her manner as they entered the sick-room; but her expressionsuddenly changed, and she asked pensively:

"And supposing we restore the unhappy girl--what good will she get byit?"

"She will breathe and see the sunshine, " replied the leech; "she will begrateful to you, and finally she will contribute what she can to thewhole body. She will be alive in short, she will live. For life--feelit, understand it as I do--life is the best thing we have. " Paula gazedwith astonishment in the man's unlovely but enthusiastic face. Howradiantly joyful!

No one could have called it ugly at this moment, or have said that itlacked charm. 

He believed what he had asserted with such fervent feeling, though it wasin contradiction to a view he had held only yesterday and often defended:that life in itself was misery to all who could not grasp it of their ownstrength, and make something of it worth making. At this moment hereally felt that it was the best gift. 

Paula went forward, and his eyes followed her, as the gaze of the piouspilgrim is fixed on the holy image he has travelled to see, over seas andmountains, with bruised feet. 

They went up to the sick girl's bed. The nun drew back, making her ownreflections on the physician's altered mien, and his childlike, beamingcontentment, as he explained to Paula what particular peril threatenedthe sufferer, and by what treatment he hoped to save her; how to make thebandages and give the medicines, and how necessary it was to accept thepoor crazy girl's fancies and treat them as rational ideas so long as thefever lasted. 

At last he was forced to go and attend to other patients. Paula remainedsitting at the head of the bed and gazing at the face of the sufferer. 

How fair it was! And Orion had snatched this rose in the bud, andtrodden it under foot! She had, no doubt, felt for him what Paulaherself felt. And now? Did she feel nothing but hatred of him, or couldher heart, in spite of her indignation and scorn, not altogether cast offthe spell that had once bound it?

What weakness was this! She was, she must, she would be his foe!

Her thoughts went back to the idle and futile life that she had led forso many years. The physician had hit the mark; and he had been too easyrather than severe. Yes, she would begin to make good use of her powers--but how, in what way, here and among these people? How transfiguredpoor Philippus had seemed when she had given him her hand; with whatenergy had he poured forth his words. 

"And how false, " she mused, "is the saying that the body is the mirror ofthe soul! If it were so, Philippus would have the face of Orion, andOrion that of Philippus. " But could Orion's heart be wholly reprobate?Nay, that was impossible; her every impulse resisted the belief. Shemust either love him or hate him, there was no third alternative; but asyet the two passions were struggling within her in a way that was quiteintolerable. 

The physician had spoken of being a brother to her, and she could nothelp smiling at the idea. She could, she thought, live very happily andcalmly with him, with her nurse Betta, and with the learned old friendwho shared his home, and of whom he had often talked to her; she couldjoin him in his studies, help him in his calling, and discuss many thingswell worth knowing. Such a life, she told herself, would be a thousandtimes preferable to this, with Neforis. In him she had certainly founda friend; and her glad recognition of the fact was the first step towardsthe fulfilment of his promise, since it showed that her heart was stillready to go forth to the kindness of another. 

Amid these meditations, however, her anxiety for Hiram constantlyrecurred to her, and it was clear to her mind that, if she and Orionshould come to extremities, she could no longer dwell under thegovernor's roof. Often she had longed for nothing so fervently as to beable to quit it; but to-day it filled her with dread, for parting fromher uncle necessarily involved parting from his son. She hated him;still, to lose sight of him altogether would be very hard to bear. To go with Philippus and live with him as his sister would never do;nay, it struck her as something inconceivable, strangely incongruous. 

Meanwhile she listened to Mandane's breathing and treated her inobedience to the leech's orders, longing for his return; presentlyhowever, not he but the nun came to the bed-side, laid her hand on thegirl's forehead, and without paying any heed to Paula, whispered kindly:"That is right child, sleep away; have a nice long sleep. So long as shecan be kept quiet; if only she goes on like this!--Her head is cooler. Philippus will certainly say there is scarcely any fever. Thank God, theworst danger is over!"

"Oh, how glad I am!" cried Paula, and she spoke with such warmth andsincerity that the nun gave her a friendly nod and left the sick girl toher care, quite satisfied. 

It was long since Paula had felt so happy. She fancied that her presencehad had a good affect on the sufferer, that Mandane had already beenbrought by her nursing to the threshold of a new life. Paula, who butjust now had regarded herself as a persecuted victim of Fate, nowbreathed more freely in the belief that she too might bring joy to someone. She looked into Mandane's more than pretty face with real joy andtenderness, laid the bandage which had slipped aside gently over herears, and breathed a soft kiss on her long silken lashes. 

She rapidly grew in favor with the shrewd nun; when the hour for prayercame round, the sister included in her petitions--Paula--the orphan undera stranger's roof, the Greek girl born, by the inscrutable decrees ofGod, outside the pale of her saving creed. At length Philippus returned;he was rejoiced at his new friend's brightened aspect, and declared thatMandane had, under her care, got past the first and worst danger, andmight be expected to recover, slowly indeed, but completely. 

After Paula had renewed the compress--and he intentionally left her to doit unaided, he said encouragingly:

"How quickly you have learnt your business. --Now, the patient is asleepagain; the Sister will keep watch, and for the present we can be of nouse to the girl; sleep is the best nourishment she can have. But withus--or at any rate with me, it is different. We have still two hours towait for the next meal: my breakfast is standing untouched, and yours nodoubt fared the same; so be my guest. They always send up enough tosatisfy six bargemen. "

Paula liked the proposal, for she had long been hungry. The nun wasdesired to hasten to fetch some more plates, of drinking-vessels therewas no lack--and soon the new allies were seated face to face, each at asmall table. He carved the duck and the roast quails, put the saladbefore her and some steaming artichokes, which the nun had brought up atthe request of the cook whose only son the physician had saved; heinvited her attention to the little pies, the fruits and cakes which werelaid ready, and played the part of butler; and then, while they heartilyenjoyed the meal, they carried on a lively conversation. 

Paula for the first time asked Philippus to tell her something of hisearly youth; he began with an account of his present mode of life, as apartner in the home of the singular old priest of Isis, Horus Apollo, adiligent student; he described his strenuous activity by day and hisquiet studies by night, and gave everything such an amusing aspect thatoften she could not help laughing. But presently he was sad, as he toldher how at an early age he had lost his father and mother, and was leftto depend solely on himself and on a very small fortune, having norelations; for his father had been a grammarian, invited to Alexandriafrom Athens, who had been forced to make a road for himself through life, which had lain before him like an overgrown jungle of papyrus and reeds. Every hour of his life was devoted to his work, for a rough, outspokenGoliath, such as he, never could find it easy to meet with helpfulpatrons. He had managed to live by teaching in the high schools ofAlexandria, Athens, and Caesarea, and by preparing medicines from choiceherbs--drinking water instead of wine, eating bread and fruit instead ofquails and pies; and he had made a friend of many a good man, but neveryet of a woman--it would be difficult with such a face as his!

"Then I am the first?" said Paula, who felt deep respect for the man whohad made his way by his own energy to the eminent position which he hadlong held, not merely in Memphis, but among Egyptian physiciansgenerally. 

He nodded, and with such a blissful smile that she felt as though asunbeam had shone into her very soul. He noticed this at once, raisedhis goblet, and drank to her, exclaiming with a flush on his cheek:

"The joy that comes to others early has come to me late; but then thewoman I call my friend is matchless!"

"Well, it is to be hoped she may not prove to be so wicked as you justnow described her. --If only our alliance is not fated to end soon andabruptly. "

"Ah!" cried the physician, "every drop of blood in my veins. .. .. . "

"You would be ready to shed it for me, " Paula broke in, with a patheticgesture, borrowed from a great tragedian she had seen at the theatre inDamascus. "But never fear: it will not be a matter of life and death--at worst they will but turn me out of the house and of Memphis. "

"You?" cried Philippus startled, "but who would dare to do so?"

"They who still regard me as a stranger. --You described the caseadmirably. If they have their way, my dear new friend, our fate will belike that of the learned Dionysius of Cyrene. "

"Of Cyrene?"

"Yes. It was my father who told me the story. When Dionysius sent hisson to the High School at Athens, he sat down to write a treatise for himon all the things a student should do and avoid. He devoted himself tothe task with the utmost diligence; but when, at the end of four years, he could write on the last leaf of the roll. "Here this book hath ahappy ending, " the young man whose studies it was intended to guidecame home to Cyrene, a finished scholar. "

"And we have struck up a friendship. .. . ?"

"And made a treaty of alliance, only to be parted ere long. "

Philippus struck his fist vehemently on the little table in front of hiscouch and exclaimed: "That I will find means to prevent!--But now, tellme in confidence, what has last happened between you and the family down-stairs?"

"You will know quite soon enough. "

"Whichever of them fancies that you can be turned out of doors withoutmore ado and there will be an end between us, may find himself mistaken!"cried the physician with an angry sparkle in his eyes. "I have a rightto put in a word in this house. It has not nearly come to that yet, andwhat is more, it never shall. You shall quit it certainly; but of yourown free will, and holding your head high. .. . "

As he spoke the door of the outer room was hastily opened and the nextinstant Orion was standing before them, looking with great surprise atthe pair who had just finished their meal. He said coldly:

"I am disturbing you, I see. "

"Not in the least, " replied the leech; and the young man, perceiving whatbad taste it would be and how much out of place to give expression to hisjealous annoyance, said, with a smile: "If only it had been granted to athird person to join in this symposium!"

"We found each other all-sufficient company, " answered Philippus. 

"A man who could believe in all the doctrines of the Church as readily asin that statement would be assured of salvation, " laughed Orion. "I amno spoilsport, respected friends; but I deeply regret that I must, on thepresent occasion, disturb your happiness. The matter in question. .. .. . "And he felt he might now abandon the jesting tone which so littleanswered to his mood, "is a serious one. In the first instance itconcerns your freedman, my fair foe. "

"Has Hiram come back?" asked Paula, feeling herself turn pale. 

"They have brought him in, " replied Orion. "My father at once summonedthe court of judges. Justice has a swift foot here with us; I am sorryfor the man, but I cannot prevent its taking its course. I must beg ofyou to appear at the examination when you are called. "

"The whole truth shall be told!" said Paula sternly and firmly. 

"Of course, " replied Orion. Then turning to the physician, he added: "Iwould request you, worthy Esculapius, to leave me and my cousin togetherfor a few minutes. I want to give her a word of counsel which willcertainly be to her advantage. "

Philippus glanced enquiringly at the girl; she said with clear decision:"You and I can have no secrets. What I may hear, Philippus too mayknow. "

Orion, with a shrug, turned to leave the room:

On the threshold he paused, exclaiming with some excitement and genuinedistress:

"If you will not listen to me for your own sake, do so at least, whateverill-feeling you may bear me, because I implore you not to refuse me thisfavor. It is a matter of life or death to one human being, of joy ormisery to another. Do not refuse me. --I ask nothing unreasonable, Philippus. Do as I entreat you and leave us for a moment alone. "

Again the physician's eyes consulted the young girl's; this time shesaid: "Go!" and he immediately quitted the room. 

Orion closed the door. 

"What have I done, Paula, " he began with panting breath, "that sinceyesterday you have shunned me like a leper--that you are doing yourutmost to bring me to ruin?"

"I mean to plead for the life of a trusty servant; nothing more, " shesaid indifferently. 

"At the risk of disgracing me!" he retorted bitterly. 

"At that risk, no doubt, if you are indeed so base as to throw yourown guilt on the shoulders of an honest man. "

"Then you watched me last night?"

"The merest chance led me to see you come out of the tablinum. .. . "

"I do not ask you now what took you there so late, " he interrupted, "forit revolts me to think anything of you but the best, the highest. --Butyou? What have you experienced at my hands but friendship--nay, forconcealment or dissimulation is here folly--but what a lover. .. . ?"

"A lover!" cried Paula indignantly. "A lover? Dare you utter theword, when you have offered your heart and hand to another--you. . . . "

"Who told you so?" asked Orion gloomily. 

"Your own mother. "

"That is it; so that is it?" cried the young man, clasping his handsconvulsively. "Now I begin to see, now I understand. But stay. For ifit is indeed that which has roused you to hate me and persecute me, youmust love me, Paula--you do love me, and then, noblest and sweetest. .. . "He held out his hand; but she struck it aside, exclaiming in a tremulousvoice:

"Be under no delusion. I am not one of the feeble lambs whom you havebeguiled by the misuse of your gifts and advantages; and who then areeager to kiss your hands. I am the daughter of Thomas; and anotherwoman's betrothed, who craves my embraces on the way to his wedding, willlearn to his rueing that there are women who scorn his disgraceful suitand can avenge the insult intended them. Go--go to your judges! You, a false witness, may accuse Hiram, but I will proclaim you, you the sonof this house, as the thief! We shall see which they believe. "

"Me!" cried Orion, and his eyes flashed as wrathfully and vindictivelyas her own. "The son of the Mukaukas! Oh, that you were not a woman!I would force you to your knees and compel you to crave my pardon. Howdare you point your finger at a man whose life has hitherto been asspotless as your own white raiment? Yes, I did go to the tablinum--I didtear the emerald from the hanging; but I did it in a fit of recklessness, and in the knowledge that what is my father's is mine. I threw away thegem to gratify a mere fancy, a transient whim. Cursed be the hour whenI did it!--Not on account of the deed itself, but of the consequences itmay entail through your mad hatred. Jealousy, petty, unworthy jealousyis at the bottom of it! And of whom are you jealous?"

"Of no one; not even of your betrothed, Katharina, " replied Paula withforced composure. "What are you to me that, to spare you humiliation, I should risk the life of the most honest soul living? I have said:The judges shall decide between you. "

"No, they shall not!" stormed Orion. "At least, not as you intend!Beware, beware, I say, of driving me to extremities! I still see in youthe woman I loved; I still offer you what lies within my power: to leteverything end for the best for you. . . . "

"For me! Then I, too, am to suffer for your guilt?"

"Did you hear the barking of hounds just now?"

"I heard dogs yelping. "

"Very well. --Your freedman has been brought in, the pack got on hisscent and have now been let into the house close to the tablinum. Thedogs would not stir beyond the threshold and on the white marble step, towards the right-hand side, the print of a man's foot was found in thedust. It is a peculiar one, for instead of five toes there are butthree. Your Hiram was fetched in, and he was found to have the samenumber of toes as the mark on the marble, neither more nor less. A horsetrod on his foot, in your father's stable, and two of his toes had to becut off: we got this out of the stammering wretch with some difficulty. --On the other side of the door-way there was a smaller print, but thoughthe dogs paid no heed to that I examined it, and assured myself--how, I need not tell you--that it was you who had stood there. He, who has nobusiness whatever in the house, must have made his way last night intothe tablinum, our treasury. Now, put yourself in the judges' place. Howcan such facts be outweighed by the mere word of a girl who, as every oneknows, is on anything rather than good terms with my mother, and who willleave no stone unturned to save her servant. "

"Infamous!" cried Paula. "Hiram did not steal the gem, as you must knowwho stole it. The emerald he sold was my property; and were those stonesreally so much alike that even the seller. . . "

"Yes, indeed. He could not tell one from the other. Evil spirits havebeen at work all through, devilish, malignant demons. It would be enoughto turn one's brain, if life were not so full of enigmas! You yourselfare the greatest. --Did you give the Syrian your emerald to sell inorder to fly from this house with the money?--You are silent? Then I amright. What can my father be to you--you do not love my mother--and theson!--Paula, Paula, you are perhaps doing him an injustice--you hate him, and it is a pleasure to you to injure him. "

"I do not wish to hurt you or any one, " replied the girl. "And you haveguessed wrongly. Your father refused me the means of seeking mine. "

"And you wanted to procure money to search for one who is long sincedead!--Even my mother admits that you speak the truth; if she is right, and you really take no pleasure in doing me a mischief, listen to me, follow my advice, and grant my prayer! I do not ask any great matter. "

"Speak on then. "

"Do you know what a man's honor is to him? Need I tell you that I am alost and despised man if I am found guilty of this act of the maddestfolly by the judges of my own house? It may cost my father his life ifhe hears that the word 'guilty' is pronounced on me; and I--I--what wouldbecome of me I cannot foresee!--I--oh God, oh God, preserve me fromfrenzy!--But I must be calm; time presses. .. . How different it is foryour servant; he seems ready even now to take the guilt on himself, for, whatever he is asked, he still keeps silence. Do you do the same; andif the judges insist on knowing what you had to do with the Syrian lastnight--for the dogs traced the scent to your staircase--hazard aconjecture that the faithful fellow stole the emerald in order to gratifyyour desire to search for your father, his beloved master. If you canmake up your mind to so great a sacrifice--oh, that I should have to askit of you!--I swear to you by all I hold sacred, by yourself and by myfather's head, I will set Hiram free within three days, unbeaten andunhurt, and magnificently indemnified; and I will myself help him on theway whither he may desire to go, or you to send him, in search of yourfather. --Be silent; remain neutral in the background; that is all I ask, and I will keep my word--that, at any rate, you do not doubt?" She hadlistened to him with bated breath; she pitied him deeply as he stoodthere, a suppliant in bitter anguish of soul, a criminal who still couldnot understand that he was one, and who relied on the confidence that, only yesterday, he still had had the right to exact from all the world. He appeared before her like a fine proud tree struck by lightning, whoseriven trunk, trembling to its fall, must be crushed to the earth by thefirst storm, unless the gardener props it up. She longed to be able toforget all he had brought upon her and to grasp his hand in friendlyconsolation; but her deeply aggrieved pride helped her to preserve thecold and repellent manner she had so far succeeded in assuming. 

With much hesitation and reserve she consented to be silent as long ashe kept his promise. It was for his father's sake, rather than his own, that she would so far become his accomplice: at the same time everythingelse was at an end between them, and she should bless the hour whichmight see her severed from him and his for ever. 

The end of her speech was in a strangely hard and repellent tone; shefelt she must adopt it to disguise how deeply she was touched by hisunhappiness and by the extinction of the sunshine in him which had oncewarmed her own heart too with bliss. To him it seemed that an icy rigorbreathed in her words--bitter contempt and hostile revulsion. He hadsome difficulty in keeping himself from breaking out again in violentwrath. He was almost sorry that he had trusted her with his secret andbegged her for mercy, instead of leaving things to run their course, andif it had come to the worst, dragging her to perdition with him. Soonerwould he forfeit honor and peace than humble himself again before thispitiless and cold-hearted foe. At this moment he really hated her, andonly wished it were possible to fight her, to break her pride, to see hervanquished and crying for quarter at his feet. It was with a greateffort--with tingling cheeks and constrained utterance that he said:

"Severance from you is indeed best for us all. --Be ready: the judges willsend for you soon. "

"Very well, " she replied. "I will be silent; you have only to providefor the Syrian's safety. You have given me your word. "

"And so long as you keep yours I will keep mine. Or else. . . " thewords would come from his quivering lips--"or else war to the knife!"

"War to the knife!" she echoed with flashing eyes. "But one thing more. I have proof that the emerald which Hiram sold belonged to me. By allthe saints--proof!"

"So much the better for you, " he said. "Woe to us both, if you force meto forget that you are a woman!"

And he left the room with a rapid step. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Orion went down stairs scowling and clenching his fists. His heart achedto bursting. 

What had he done, what had befallen him? That a woman should dare totreat him so!--a woman whom he had deigned to love--the loveliest andnoblest of women; but at the same time the haughtiest, most vengeful, and most hateful. 

He had once read this maxim: "When a man has committed a base action, if only one other knows of it he carries the death-warrant of his peacein the bosom of his garment. " He felt the full weight of this sentence;and the other--the one who knew--was Paula, the woman of all others whomhe most wished should look up to him. But yesterday it had been a visionof heaven on earth to dream of holding her in his arms and calling herhis; now he had but one wish: that he could humble and punish her. Oh, that his hands should be tied, that he should be dependent on her mercylike a condemned criminal! It was inconceivable--intolerable!

But she should be taught to know him. He had passed through lifehitherto as white as a swan; if this luckless hour and this woman madehim appear as a vulture, it was not his fault, it was hers. She shouldsoon see which was the stronger of the two. He would punish her in everyway in which a woman can be punished, even if the way to it led throughcrime and misery! He was not afraid that the leech bad won heraffections, for he knew, with strange certainty that, in spite of thehostility she displayed, her heart was his and his alone. "The gold coincalled love, " said he to himself, "has two faces: tender devotion andbitter aversion; just now she is showing me the latter. But, howeverdifferent the image and superscription may be on the two sides, if youring it, it always gives out the same tone; and I can hear it even in hermost insulting words. "

When the family met at table he made Paula's excuses; he himself ate onlya few mouthfuls, for the judges had assembled some time since and werewaiting for him. 

The right of life and death had been placed in the hands of the ancestorsof the Mukaukas, powerful princes of provinces; they had certainlywielded it even in the dynasty of Psammitichus, whose power had been putto a terrible end by Cambyses the Persian. And still the Uraeus snake--the asp whose bite caused almost instant death, reared its head as thetime-honored emblem of this privilege, by the side of St. George theDragon-slayer, over the palaces of the Mukaukas at Memphis, and atLykopolis in Upper Egypt. And in both these places the head of thefamily retained the right of arbitrary judgment and capital punishmentover the retainers of his house and the inhabitants of the district hegoverned, after Justinian first, and then the Emperor Heraclius, hadconfirmed them in their old prerogative. The chivalrous St. Georgewas placed between the snakes so as to replace a heathen symbol by aChristian one. Formerly indeed the knight himself had had the head ofa sparrow-hawk: that is to say of the god Horus, who had overthrown theevil-spirit, Seth-Typhon, to avenge his father; but about two centuriessince the heathen crocodile-destroyer had been transformed into theChristian conqueror of the dragon. 

After the Arab conquest the Moslems had left all ancient customs andrights undisturbed, including those of the Mukaukas. 

The court which assembled to sit in judgment on all cases concerningthe adherents of the house consisted of the higher officials of thegovernor's establishment. The Mukaukas himself was president, and hisgrown-up son was his natural deputy. During Orion's absence, Nilus, thehead of the exchequer, a shrewd and judicious Egyptian, had generallyrepresented his invalid master; but on the present occasion Orion wasappointed to take his place, and to preside over the assembly. 

The governor's son hastened to his father's bedroom to beg him to lendhim his ring as a token of the authority transferred to him; the Mukaukashad willingly allowed him to take it off his finger, and had enjoined himto exercise relentless severity. Generally he inclined to leniency; butbreaking into a house was punishable with death, and in this instance itwas but right to show no mercy, out of deference to the Arab merchant. But Orion, mindful of his covenant with Paula, begged his father to givehim full discretion. The old Moslem was a just man, who would agree to amitigated sentence under the circumstances; besides, the culprit was notin strict fact a member of the household, but in the service of arelation. 

The Mukaukas applauded his son's moderation and judgment. If only hehad been in rather better health he himself would have had the pleasureof being present at the sitting, to see him fulfil for the first time soimportant a function, worthy of his birth and position. 

Orion kissed his father's hand with heart-felt but melancholy emotion, for this praise from the man he so truly loved was a keen pleasure; andyet he felt that it was of ill-omen that his duties as judge, of which heknew the sacred solemnity, should be thus--thus begun. 

It was in a softened mood, sunk in thought as to how he could best saveHiram and leave Paula's name altogether out of the matter, that he wentto the hall of justice; and there he found the nurse Perpetua in eagerdiscussion with Nilus. 

The old woman was quite beside herself. In the clatter of her loom shehad heard nothing of what had been going on till a few minutes ago; nowshe was ready to swear to the luckless Hiram's innocence. The stone hehad sold had belonged to his young mistress, and thank God there was nolack of evidence of the fact; the setting of the emerald was lying safeand sound in Paula's trunk. Happily she had had an opportunity ofspeaking to her; and that she, the daughter of Thomas, should be broughtbefore the tribunal, like a citizen's daughter or slave-girl, was unheardof, shameful!

At this Orion roughly interfered; he desired the old gate-keeper toconduct Perpetua at once to the storeroom next to the tablinum, where thevarious stuffs prepared for the use of the household were laid by, and tokeep her there under safe guard till further notice. The tone in whichhe gave the order was such that even the nurse did not remonstrate; andNilus, for his part obeyed in silence when Orion bid him return to hisplace among the judges. 

Nilus went back to the judgment-hall in uneasy consternation. Neverbefore had he seen his young lord in this mood. As he heard the nurse'sstatement the veins had swelled in his smooth youthful forehead, hisnostrils had quivered with convulsive agitation, his voice had lost allits sweetness, and his eyes had a sinister gleam. 

Orion was now alone; he ground his teeth with rage. Paula had betrayedhim in spite of her promise, and how mean was her woman's cunning!She could be silent before the judges--yes. Silent in all confidencenow, to the very last; but the nurse, her mouthpiece, had already putNilus, the keenest and most important member of the court, in possessionof the evidence which spoke for her and against him. It was shocking, disgraceful! Base and deliberately malicious treachery. But the end wasnot yet: he still was free to act and to ward off the spiteful stroke bya counterthrust. How it should be dealt was clear from Perpetua'sstatement; but his conscience, his instincts and long habits ofsubmission to what was right, good, and fitting held him back. Not only had he never himself done a base or a mean action; he loathedit in another, and the only thing he could do to render Paula's perfidyharmless was, as he could not deny, original and bold, but at the sametime detestable and shameful. 

Still, he could not and he would not succumb in this struggle. Timepressed. Long reflection was impossible; suddenly he felt carried awayby a fierce and mad longing to fight it out--he felt as he had felt on. A race-day in the hippodrome, when he had driven his own quadriga aheadof all the rest. 

Onwards, then, onwards; and if the chariot were wrecked, if the horseswere killed, if his wheels maimed his comrades overthrown in the arena-still, onwards, onwards!

A few hasty steps brought him to the lodge of the gate-keeper, a sturdyold man who had held his post for forty years. He had formerly been alocksmith and it still was part of his duty to undertake the repairs ofthe simple household utensils. Orion as a youth had been a beautiful andengaging boy and a great favorite with this worthy man; he had delightedin sitting in his little room and handing him the tools for his work. He himself had remarkable mechanical facility and had been the old man'sapt pupil; nay, he had made such progress as to be able to carve prettylittle boxes, prayer-book cases, and such like, and provide them withlocks, as gifts to his parents on their birth days--a festival alwayskept with peculiar solemnity in Egypt, and marked by giving and receivingpresents. He understood the use of tools, and he now hastily selectedsuch as he needed. On the window-ledge stood a bunch of flowers whichhe had ordered for Paula the day before, and which he had forgotten tofetch this terrible morning. With this in one hand, and the tools in thebreast of his robe he hastened upstairs. 

"Onwards, I must keep on!" he muttered, as he entered Paula's room, bolted the door inside and, kneeling before her chest, tossed the flowersaside. If he was discovered, he would say that he had gone into hiscousin's chamber to give her the bouquet. 

"Onwards; I must go on!" was still his thought, as he unscrewed thehinge on which the lid of the trunk moved. His hands trembled, hisbreath came fast, but he did his task quickly. This was the right way towork, for the lock was a peculiar one, and could not have been openedwithout spoiling it. He raised the lid, and the first thing his handcame upon in the chest was the necklace with the empty medallion--it wasas though some kind Genius were aiding him. The medallion hung butslightly to the elegantly-wrought chain; to detach it and conceal itabout his person was the work of a minute. 

But now the most resolute. "On, on. . . . " was of no further avail. This was theft: he had robbed her whom, if she only had chosen it, he wasready to load with everything wherewith fate had so superabundantlyblessed him. No, this--this. .. . 

A singular idea suddenly flashed through his brain; a thought whichbrought a smile to his lips even at this moment of frightful tension. He acted upon it forth with: he drew out from within his under-garment agem that hung round his neck by a gold chain. This jewel--a masterpieceby one of the famous Greek engravers of heathen antiquity--had been givenhim in Constantinople in exchange for a team of four horses to which hisgreatest friend there had taken a fancy. It was in fact of greater pricethan half a dozen fine horses. Half beside himself, and as ifintoxicated, Orion followed the wild impulse to which he had yielded;indeed, he was glad to have so precious a jewel at hand to hang in theplace of the worthless gold frame-work. It was done with a pinch; butscrewing up the hinge again was a longer task, for his hands trembledviolently--and as the moment drew near in which he meant to let Paulafeel his power, the more quickly his heart beat, and the more difficulthe found it to control his mind to calm deliberation. 

After he had unbolted the door he stood like a thief spying the longcorridor of the strangers' wing, and this increased his excitement to afrenzy of rage with the world, and fate, and most of all with her who hadcompelled him to stoop to such base conduct. But now the charioteer hadthe reins and goad in his hand. Onwards now, onwards!

He flew down stairs, three steps at a time, as he had been wont when aboy. In the anteroom he met Eudoxia, Mary's Greek governess, who hadjust brought her refractory pupil into the house, and he tossed her thenosegay he still held in his hands; then, without heeding the languishingglances the middle-aged damsel sent after him with her thanks, hehastened back to the gate-keeper's lodge where he hurriedly disburdenedhimself of the locksmith's tools. 

A few minutes later he entered the judgment-hall. Nilus the treasurershowed him to the governor's raised seat, but an overpowering bashfulnesskept him from taking this position of honor. It was with a burning brow, and looks so ominously dark that the assembly gazed at him with timidastonishment, that he opened the proceedings with a few broken sentences. He himself scarcely knew what he was saying, and heard his own voice asvaguely as though it were the distant roar of waves. However, hesucceeded in clearly stating all that had happened: he showed theassembly the stone which had been stolen and recovered; he explained howthe thief had been taken; he declared Paula's freedman to be guilty ofthe robbery, and called upon him to bring forward anything he could inhis own defence. But the accused could only stammer out that he was notguilty. He was not able to defend himself, but his mistress could nodoubt give evidence that would justify him. 

Orion pushed the hair from his forehead, proudly raised his aching head, and addressed the judges:

"His mistress is a lady of rank allied to our house. Let us keep herout of this odious affair as is but seemly. Her nurse gave Nilus someinformation which may perhaps avail to save this unhappy man. We willneglect nothing to that end; but you, who are less familiar with theleading circumstances, must bear this in mind to guard yourselves againstbeing misled: This lady is much attached to the accused; she clings tohim and Perpetua as the only friends remaining to her from her nativehome. Moreover, there is nothing to surprise me or you in the fact thata noble woman, as she is, should assume the onus of another's crime, andplace herself in a doubtful light to save a man who has hitherto beenhonest and faithful. The nurse is here; shall she be called, or haveyou, Nilus, heard from her everything that her mistress can say in favorof her freedman?"

"Perpetua told me, and told you, too, my lord, certain credible facts, "replied the treasurer. "But I could not repeat them so exactly as sheherself, and I am of opinion that the woman should be brought before thecourt. "

"Then call her, " said Orion, fixing his eyes on vacancy above the headsof the assembly, with a look of sullen dignity. 

After a long and anxious pause the old woman was brought in. Confidentin her righteous cause she came forward boldly; she blamed Hiram somewhatsharply for keeping silence so long, and then explained that Paula, toprocure money for her search for her father, had made the freedman take acostly emerald out of its setting in her necklace, and that it was thesale of this gem that had involved her fellow-countryman in thisunfortunate suspicion. 

The nurse's deposition seemed to have biased the greater part of thecouncil in favor of the accused; but Orion did not give them time todiscuss their impressions among themselves. Hardly had Perpetua ceasedspeaking, when Orion took up the emerald, which was lying on the tablebefore him, exclaiming excitedly, nay, angrily:

"And the stone which is recognized by the man who sold it--an expert ingems--as being that which was taken from the hanging, and unique of itskind, is supposed, by some miracle of nature, to have suddenly appearedin duplicate?--Malignant spirits still wander through the world, butwould hardly dare to play their tricks in this Christian house. You allknow what 'old women's tales' are; and the tale that old woman has toldus is one of the most improbable of its class. 'Tell that to Apelles theJew, ' said Horace the Roman; but his fellow-Israelite, Gamaliel'--and heturned to the jeweller who was sitting with the other witnesses willcertainly not believe it; still less I, who see through this tissue offalsehood. The daughter of the noble Thomas has condescended to weave itwith the help of that woman--a skilled weaver, she--to spread it beforeus in order to mislead us, and so to save her faithful servant fromimprisonment, from the mines, or from death. These are the facts. --Do Ierr, woman, or do you still adhere to your statement?"

The nurse, who had hoped to find in Orion her mistress' advocate, hadlistened to his speech with growing horror. Her eyes flashed as shelooked at him, first with mockery and then with vehement disgust; but, though they filled with tears at this unlooked-for attack, she preservedher presence of mind, and declared she had spoken the truth, and nothingbut the truth, as she always did. The setting of her mistress' emeraldwould prove her statement. 

Orion shrugged his shoulders, desired the woman to fetch her mistress, whose presence was now indispensable, and called to the treasurer:

"Go with her, Nilus! And let a servant bring the trunk here that theowner may open it in the presence of us all and before any one elsetouches the contents. I should not be the right person to undertake itsince no one in this Jacobite household--hardly even one of yourselves--has found favor in the eyes of the Melchite. She has unfortunately aspecial aversion for me, so I must depute to others every proceeding thatcould lead to a misunderstanding. --Conduct her hither, Nilus; of coursewith the respect due to a maiden of high rank. "

While the envoy was gone Orion paced the room with swift, restless steps, Once only he paused and addressed the judges:

"But supposing the empty setting should be found, how do you account forthe existence of two--two gems, each unique of its kind? It isdistracting. Here is a soft-hearted girl daring to mislead a seriouscouncil of justice for the sake, for the sake of. . . . " he stamped hisfoot with rage and continued his silent march. 

"He is as yet but a beginner, " thought the assembled officials as theywatched his agitation. "Otherwise how could he allow such an absurdattempt to clear an accused thief to affect him so deeply, or disturbhis temper?"

Paula's arrival presently put an end to Orion's pacing the room. Hereceived her with a respectful bow and signed to her to be seated. Thenhe bid Nilus recapitulate the results of the proceedings up to thepresent stage, and what he and his colleagues supposed to be her motivefor asserting that the stolen emerald was her property. He would as faras possible leave it to the others to question her, since she knew fullwell on what terms she was with himself. Even before he had come intothe council-room she had offered her explanation of the robbery to Nilus, through her nurse Perpetua; but it would have seemed fairer and morefriendly in his eyes--and here he raised his voice--if she had chosen toconfide to him, Orion, her plan for helping the freedman. Then he mighthave been able to warn her. He could only regard this mode of action, independently of him, as a fresh proof of her dislike, and she must holdherself responsible for the consequences. Justice must now take itscourse with inexorable rigor. 

The wrathful light in his eyes showed her what she had to expect fromhim, and that he was prepared to fight her to the end. She saw that hethought that she had broken the promise she had but just now given him;but she had not commissioned Perpetua to interfere in the matter; on thecontrary, she had desired the woman to leave it to her to produce herevidence only in the last extremity. Orion must believe that she haddone him a wrong; still, could that make him so far forget himself as tocarry out his threats, and sacrifice an innocent man--to divert suspicionfrom himself, while he branded her as a false witness? Aye, even fromthat he would not shrink! His flaming glance, his abrupt demeanor, hislaboring breath, proclaimed it plainly enough. --Then let the strugglebegin! At this moment she would have died rather than have tried tomollify him by a word of excuse. The turmoil in his whole being vibratedthrough hers. She was ready to throw herself at his feet and implore himto control himself, to guard himself against further wrong-doing--but shemaintained her proud dignity, and the eyes that met his were not lessindignant and defiant than his own. 

They stood face to face like two young eagles preparing to fight, withfeathers on end, arching their pinions and stretching their necks. She, confident of victory in the righteousness of her cause, and far moreanxious for him than for herself; he, almost blind to his own danger, but, like a gladiator confronting his antagonist in the arena, far moreeager to conquer than to protect his own life and limb. 

While Nilus explained to her what, in part, she already knew, andrepeated their suspicion that she had been tempted to make a falsedeclaration to save the life of her servant, whose devotion, no doubt, to his missing master had led him to commit the robbery; she kept hereye on Orion rather than on the speaker. At last Nilus referred to thetrunk, which had been brought from Paula's room under her own eyes, informing her that the assembly were ready to hear and examine intoanything she had to say in her own defence. 

Orion's agitation rose to its highest pitch. He felt that the blood hadfled from his cheeks, and his thoughts were in utter confusion. Thecouncil, the accused, his enemy Paula--everything in the room lay beforehim shrouded in a whirl of green mist. All he saw seemed to be tintedwith light emerald green. The hair, the faces, the dresses of thosepresent gleamed and floated in a greenish light; and not till Paula wentup to the chest with a firm, haughty step, drew out a small key, gave itto the treasurer, and answered his speech with three words: "Open thebox!"--uttering them with cold condescension as though even this were toomuch--not till then did he see clearly once more: her bright brown hair, the fire of her blue eyes, the rose and white of her complexion, thelight dress which draped her fine figure in noble folds, and hertriumphant smile. How beautiful, how desirable was this woman! A fewminutes and she would be worsted in this contest; but the triumph hadcost him not only herself, but all that was good and pure in his soul, and worthy of his forefathers. An inward voice cried it out to him, buthe drowned it in the shout of "Onwards, " like a chariot-driver. Yes--on;still on towards the goal; away over ruins and stones, through blood anddust, till she bowed her proud neck, crushed and beaten, and sued formercy. 

The lid of the trunk flew open. Paula stooped, lifted the necklace, heldit out to the judges, pulling it straight by the two ends. .. . Ah! whata terrible, heartrending cry of despair! Orion even, never, never wishedto hear the like again. Then she flung the jewel on the table, exclaiming: "Shameful, shameful! atrocious!" she tottered backwards andclung to her faithful Betta; for her knees were giving way, and she feltherself in danger of sinking to the ground. 

Orion sprang forward to support her, but she thrust him aside, with aglance so full of anguish, rage and intense contempt that he stoodmotionless, and clasped his hand over his heart. --And this deed, whichwas to work such misery for two human beings, he had smiled in doing!This practical joke which concealed a death-warrant--to what fearfulissues might it not lead?

Paula had sunk speechless on to a seat, and he stood staring in silence, till a burst of laughter broke from the assembly and old Psamtik, thecaptain of the guard, who had long been a member of the council ofjustice, exclaimed:

"By my soul, a splendid stone! There is the heathen god Eros with hiswinged sweetheart Psyche smiling in his face. Did you never read thatpretty story by Apuleius--'The Golden Ass' it is called? The passage isin that. Holy Luke! how finely it is carved. The lady has taken outthe wrong necklace. Look, Gamaliel, where could your green pigeon's egghave found a place in that thing?" and he pointed to the gem. 

"Nowhere, " said the Jew. "The noble lady. . . " But Orion roughly bidthe witness to be silent, and Nilus, taking up the engraved gem, examinedit closely. Then he--he the grave, just man, on whose support Paula hadconfidently reckoned--went up to her and with a regretful shrug asked herwhether the other necklace with the setting of which she had spoken wasin the trunk. 

The blood ran cold in her veins. This thing that had happened was asstartling as a miracle. But no! No higher Power had anything to do withthis blow. Orion believed that she had failed in her promise ofscreening him by her silence, and this, this was his revenge. By whatmeans--how he had gone to work, was a mystery. What a trick!--and it hadsucceeded! But should she take it like a patient child? No. A thousandtimes no! Suddenly all her old powers of resistance came back; hatredsteeled her wavering will; and, as in fancy, he had seen himself in thecircus, driving in a race, so she pictured herself seated at the chess-board. She felt herself playing with all her might to win; but not, aswith his father, for flowers, trifling presents or mere glory; nay, for avery different stake Life or Death!

She would do everything, anything to conquer him; and yet, no--come whatmight--not everything. Sooner would she succumb than betray him as thethief or reveal what she had discovered in the viridarium. She hadpromised to keep the secret; and she would repay the father's kindnessby screening the son from this disgrace. How beautiful, how noble hadOrion's image been in her heart. She would not stain it with thisdisgrace in her own eyes and in those of the world. But every otherreservation must be cast far, far away, to snatch the victory from himand to save Hiram. Every fair weapon she might use; only this treacheryshe could not, might not have recourse to. He must be made to feel thatshe was more magnanimous than he; that she, under all conceivablecircumstances, kept her word. That was settled; her bosom once more roseand fell, and her eye brightened again; still it was some little timebefore she could find the right words with which to begin the contest. 

Orion could see the seething turmoil in her soul; he felt that she wasarming herself for resistance, and he longed to spur her on to deal thefirst blow. Not a word had she uttered of surprise or anger, not asyllable of reproach had passed her lips. What was she thinking of, whatwas she plotting? The more startling and dangerous the better; the morebravely she bore herself, the more completely in the background might heleave the painful sense of fighting against a woman. Even heroes hadboasted of a victory over Amazons. 

At last, at last!--She rose and went towards Hiram. He had been tied tothe stake to which criminals were bound, and as an imploring glance fromhis honest eyes met hers, the spell that fettered her tongue wasunloosed; she suddenly understood that she had not merely to protectherself, but to fulfil a solemn duty. With a few rapid steps she went upto the table at which her judges sat in a semi-circle, and leaning on itwith her left hand, raised her right high in the air, exclaiming:

"You are the victims of a cruel fraud; and I of an unparalleled andwicked trick, intended to bring me to ruin!--Look at that man at thestake. Does he look like a robber? A more honest and faithful servantnever earned his freedom, and the gratitude Hiram owed to his master, myfather, he has discharged to the daughter for whose sake he quitted hishome, his wife and child. He followed me, an orphan, here into a strangeland. --But that matters not to you. --Still, if you will hear the truth, the strict and whole. . . . "

"Speak!" Orion put in; but she went on, addressing herself exclusivelyto Nilus, and his peers, and ignoring him completely:

"Your president, the son of the Mukaukas, knows that, instead of theaccused, I might, if I chose, be the accuser. But I scorn it--for loveof his father, and because I am more high-minded than he. He willunderstand!--With regard to this particular emerald Hiram, my freedman, took it out of its setting last evening, under my eyes, with his knife;other persons besides us, thank God! have seen the setting, empty, on thechain to which it belonged. This afternoon it was still in the place towhich some criminal hand afterwards found access, and attached that geminstead. That I have just now seen for the first time--I swear it byChrist's wounds. It is an exquisite work. Only a very rich man--therichest man here, can give away such a treasure, for whatever purpose hemay have in view--to destroy an enemy let us say. --Gamaliel, " and sheturned to the Jew--"At what sum would you value that onyx?"

The Israelite asked to see the gem once more; he turned it about, andthen said with a grin: "Well, fair lady, if my black hen laid me littlethings like that I would feed it on cakes from Arsinoe and oysters fromCanopus. The stone is worth a landed estate, and though I am not a richman, I would pay down two talents for it at any moment, even if I had toborrow the money. "

This statement could not fail to make a great impression on the judges. Orion, however, exclaimed: "Wonders on wonders mark this eventful day!The prodigal generosity which had become an empty name has revived againamong us! Some lavish demon has turned a worthless plate of gold into acostly gem. --And may I ask who it was that saw the empty setting hangingto your chain?" Paula was in danger of forgetting even that last reserveshe had imposed on herself; she answered with trembling accents:

"Apparently your confederates or you yourself did. You, and you alone, have any cause. . . . "

But he would not allow her to proceed. He abruptly interrupted her, exclaiming: "This is really too much! Oh, that you were a man! How faryour generosity reaches I have already seen. Even hatred, the bitteresthostility. . . . "

"They would have every right to ruin you completely!" she cried, rousedto the utmost. "And if I were to charge you with the most horriblecrime. . . . "

"You yourself would be committing a crime, against me and against thishouse, " he said menacingly. "Beware! Can self-delusion go so far thatyou dare to appeal to me to testify to the fable you have trumped up. .. . "

"No. Oh, no! That would be counting on some honesty in you yet, " sheloudly broke in. "I have other witnesses: "Mary, the granddaughter ofthe Mukaukas, " and she tried to catch his eye. 

"The child whose little heart you have won, and who follows you aboutlike a pet dog!" he cried. 

"And besides Mary, Katharina, the widow Susannah's daughter, " she added, sure of her triumph, and the color mounted to her cheeks. "She is nolonger a child, but a maiden grown, as you know. I therefore demand ofyou--" and she again turned to the assembly--"that you will fulfil yourfunctions worthily and promote justice in my behalf by calling in boththese witnesses and hearing their evidence. "

On this Orion interposed with forced composure: "As to whether a soft-hearted child ought to be exposed to the temptation to save the friendshe absolutely worships by giving evidence before the judges, be it whatit may, only her grandparents can decide. Her tender years would at anyrate detract from the validity of her evidence, and I am averse toinvolving a child of this house in this dubious affair. With regard toKatharina, it is, on the contrary, the duty of this court to request herpresence, and I offer myself to go and fetch her. "

He resolutely resisted Paula's attempts to interrupt him again: sheshould have a patient hearing presently in the presence of her witness. The gem no doubt had come to her from her father. But at this herrighteous indignation was again too much for her; she cried out quitebeside herself:

"No, and again no. Some reprobate scoundrel, an accomplice of yours--yes, I repeat it--made his way into my room while I was in the sick-room, and either forced the lock of my trunk or opened it with a false key. "

"That can easily be proved, " said Orion. In a confident tone he desiredthat the box should be placed on the table, and requested one of thecouncil, who understood such matters, to give his opinion. Paula knewthe man well. He was one of the most respected members of the household, the chief mechanician whose duty it was to test and repair the water-clocks, balances, measures and other instruments. He at once proceededto examine the lock and found it in perfect order, though the key, whichwas of peculiar form, could certainly not have found a substitute in anyfalse key; and Paula was forced to admit that she had left the trunklocked at noon and had worn the key round her neck ever since. Orionlistened to his opinion with a shrug, and before going to seek Katharinagave orders that Paula and the nurse should be conducted to separaterooms. To arrive at any clear decision in this matter, it was necessarythat any communication between these two should be rendered impossible. As soon as the door was shut on them he hastened into the garden, wherehe hoped to find Katharina. 

The council looked after him with divided feelings. They were hereconfronted by riddles that were hard to solve. No one of them felt thathe had a right to doubt the good intentions of their lord's son, whomthey looked up to as a talented and high-minded youth. His dispute withPaula had struck them painfully, and each one asked himself how it wasthat such a favorite with women should have failed to rouse any sentimentbut that of hatred in one of the handsomest of her sex. The markedhostility she displayed to Orion injured her cause in the eyes of herjudges, who knew only too well how unpleasant her relations were withNeforis. It was more than audacious in her to accuse the Mukaukas' sonof having broken open her trunk; only hatred could have prompted her toutter such a charge. Still, there was something in her demeanor whichencouraged confidence in her assertions, and if Katharina could reallytestify to having seen the empty medallion on the chain there would be noalternative but to begin the enquiry again from a fresh point of view, and to inculpate another robber. But who could have lavished such atreasure as this gem in exchange for mere rubbish? It was inconceivable;Ammonius the mechanician was right when he said that a woman full ofhatred was capable of anything, even the incredible and impossible. 

Meanwhile it was growing dusk and the scorching day had turned to thetempered heat of a glorious evening. The Mukaukas was still in his roomwhile his wife with Susannah and her daughter, Mary and her governess, were enjoying the air and chatting in the open hall looking out on thegarden and the Nile. The ladies had covered their heads with gauze veilsas a protection against the mosquitoes, which were attracted in swarmsfrom the river by the lights, and also against the mists that rose fromthe shallowing Nile; they were in the act of drinking some cooling fruit-syrup which had just been brought in, when Orion made his appearance. 

"What has happened?" cried his mother in some anxiety, for she concludedfrom his dishevelled hair and heated cheeks that the meeting had goneanything rather than smoothly. 

"Incredible things, " he replied. "Paula fought like a lioness for herfather's freedman. . . "

"Simply to annoy us and put us in a difficulty, " replied Neforis. 

"No, no, Mother, " replied Orion with some warmth. "But she has a will ofiron; a woman who never pauses at anything when she wants to carry herpoint; and at the same time she goes to work with a keen wit that isworthy of the greatest lawyer that I ever heard defend a cause in thehigh court of the capital. Besides this her air of superiority, and herdivine beauty turn the heads of our poor household officers. It is fineand noble, of course, to be so zealous in the cause of a servant; but itcan do no good, for the evidence against her stammering favorite isoverwhelming, and when her last plea is demolished the matter is ended. She says that she showed a necklace to the child, and to you, charmingKatharina. "

"Showed it?" cried the young girl. "She took it away from us--did notshe, Mary?"

"Well, we had taken it without her leave, " replied the child. 

"And she wants our children to appear in a court of justice to bearwitness for her highness?" asked Neforis indignantly. 

"Certainly, " replied Orion. "But Mary's evidence is of no value in law. "

"And even if it were, " replied his mother, "the child should not be mixedup with this disgraceful business under any circumstances. "

"Because I should speak for Paula!" cried Mary, springing up in greatexcitement. 

"You will just hold your tongue, " her grandmother exclaimed. 

"And as for Katharina, " said the widow, "I do not at all like the notionof her offering herself to be stared at by all those gentlemen. "

"Gentlemen!" observed the girl. "Men--household officials and suchlike. They may wait long enough for me!"

"You must nevertheless do their bidding, haughty rosebud, " said Orionlaughing. "For you, thank God, are no longer a child, and a court ofjustice has the right of requiring the presence of every grown person asa witness. No harm will come to you, for you are under my protection. Come with me. We must learn every lesson in life. Resistance is vain. Besides, all you will have to do will be to state what you have seen, andthen, if I possibly can, I will bring you back under the tender escort ofthis arm, to your mother once more. You must entrust your jewel to meto-day, Susannah, and this trustworthy witness shall tell you afterwardshow she fared under my care. "

Katharina was quite capable of reading the implied meaning of thesewords, and she was not ill-pleased to be obliged to go off alone with thegovernor's handsome son, the first man for whom her little heart had beatquicker; she sprang up eagerly; but Mary clung to her arm, and insistedso vehemently and obstinately on being taken with them to bear witness inPaula's behalf, that her governess and Dame Neforis had the greatestdifficulty in reducing her to obedience and letting the pair go offwithout her. Both mothers looked after them with great satisfaction, andthe governor's wife whispered to Susannah: "Before the judges to-day, butere long, please God, before the altar at Church!"

To reach the hall of judgment they could go either through the house orround it. If the more circuitous route were chosen, it lay first throughthe garden; and this was the course taken by Orion. He had made a verygreat effort in the presence of the ladies to remain master of theagitation that possessed him; he saw that the battle he had begun, andfrom which he, at any rate, could not and would not now retire, wasraging more and more fiercely, obliging him to drag the young creaturewho must become his wife--the die was already cast--into the course ofcrime he had started on. 

When he had agreed with his mother that he was not to prefer his suit forKatharina till the following day, he had hoped to prove to her in theinterval that this little thing was no wife for him; and now--oh! Ironyof Fate--he found himself compelled to the very reverse of what he longedto do: to fight the woman he loved--Yes, still loved--as if she were hismortal foe, and pay his court to the girl who really did not suit him. It was maddening, but inevitable; and once more spurring himself with theword "Onwards!" be flung himself into the accomplishment of the unholytask of subduing the inexperienced child at his elbow into committingeven a crime for his sake. His heart was beating wildly; but no pause, no retreat was possible: he must conquer. "Onwards, then, onwards!"

When they had passed out of the light of the lamps into the shade he tookhis young companion's slender hand-thankful that the darkness concealedhis features--and pressed the delicate fingers to his lips. 

"Oh!--Orion!" she exclaimed shyly, but she did not resist. 

"I only claim my due, sunshine of my soul!" he said insinuatingly. "If your heart beat as loud as mine, our mothers might hear them!"

"But it does!" she joyfully replied, her curly head bent on one side. 

"Not as mine does, " he said with a sigh, laying her little hand on hisheart. He could do so in all confidence, for its spasmodic throbbingthreatened to suffocate him. 

"Yes indeed, " she said. "It is beating. . . "

"So that they can hear it indoors, " he added with a forced laugh. "Do you think your dear mother has not long since read our feelings?"

"Of course she has, " whispered Katharina. "I have rarely seen her insuch good spirits as since your return. "

"And you, you little witch?"

"I? Of course I was glad--we all were. --And your parents!"

"Nay, nay, Katharina! What you yourself felt when we met once more, thatis what I want to know. "

"Oh, let that pass! How can I describe such a thing?"

"Is that quite impossible?" he asked and clasped her arm more closelyin his own. He must win her over, and his romantic fancy helped him topaint feelings he had never had, in glowing colors. He poured out sweetwords of love, and she was only too ready to believe them. At a signfrom him she sat down confidingly on a wooden bench in the old avenuewhich led to the northern side of the house. Flowers were opening onmany of the shrubs and shedding rich, oppressive perfume. The moonlightpierced through the solemn foliage of the sycamores, and shimmeringstreaks and rings of light played in the branches, on the trunks, and onthe dark ground. The heat of the day still lingered in the leafy roofsoverhead, sultry and heavy even now; and in this alley he called her forthe first time his own, his betrothed, and enthralled her heart in chainsand bonds. Each fervent word thrilled with the wild and painfulagitation that was torturing his soul, and sounded heartfelt and sincere. The scent of flowers, too, intoxicated her young and inexperienced heart;she willingly offered her lips to his kisses, and with exquisite blissfelt the first glow of youthful love returned. 

She could have lingered thus with him for a lifetime; but in a fewminutes he sprang up, anxious to put an end to this tender dalliancewhich was beginning to be too much even for him, and exclaimed:

"This cursed, this infernal trial! But such is the fate of man! Dutycalls, and he must return from all the bliss of Paradise to the worldagain. Give me your arm, my only love, my all!"

And Katharina obeyed. Dazzled and bewildered by the extraordinaryhappiness that had come to meet her, she allowed him to lead her on, listening with suspended breath as he added: "Out of this beatitude backto the sternest of duties!--And how odious, how immeasurably loathesomeis the case in question! How gladly would I have been a friend to Paula, a faithful protector instead of a foe!"

As he spoke he felt the girl's left hand clench tighter on his arm, and this spurred him on in his guilty purpose. Katharina herself hadsuggested to his mind the course he must pursue to attain his end. He went on to influence her jealousy by praising Paula's charm andloftiness, excusing himself in his own eyes by persuading himself that alover was justified in inducing his betrothed to save his happiness andhis honor. 

Still, as he uttered each flattering word, he felt that he was loweringhimself and doing a fresh injustice to Paula. He found it only too easyto sing her praises; but as he did so with growing enthusiasm Katharinahit him on the arm exclaiming, half in jest and half seriously vexed:

"Oh, she is a goddess! And pray do you love her or me? You had betternot make me jealous! Do you hear?"

"You little simpleton!" he said gaily; and then he added soothingly:"She is like the cold moon, but you are the bright warming sun. Yes, Paula!--we will leave Paula to some Olympian god, some archangel. I rejoice in my gladsome little maiden who will enjoy life with me, and all its pleasures!"

"That we will!" she exclaimed triumphantly; the horizon of her futurewas radiant with sunshine. 

"Good Heavens!" he exclaimed as if in surprise. "The lights are alreadyshining in that miserable hall of justice! Ah, love, love! Under thatenchantment we had forgotten the object for which we came out. --Tell me, my darling, do you remember exactly what the necklace was like that youand Mary were playing with this afternoon?"

"It was very finely wrought, but in the middle hung a rubbishy brokenmedallion of gold. "

"You are a pretty judge of works of art! Then you overlooked the fineengraved gem which was set in that modest gold frame?"

"Certainly not. "

"I assure you, little wise-head!"

"No, my dearest. " As she spoke she looked up saucily, as though she hadachieved some great triumph. "I know very well what gems are. My fatherleft a very fine collection, and my mother says that by his will they areall to belong to my future husband. "

"Then I can set you, my jewel, in a frame of the rarest gems. "

"No, no, " she cried gaily. "Let me have a setting indeed, for I am but afugitive thing; but only, only in your heart. "

"That piece of goldsmith's work is already done. --But seriously my child;with regard to Paula's necklace: it really was a gem, and you must havehappened to see only the back of it. That is just as you describe it: aplain setting of gold. "

"But Orion. . . . "

"If you love me, sweetheart, contradict me no further. In the futureI will always accept your views, but in this case your mistake mightinvolve us in a serious misunderstanding, by compelling me to give in toPaula and make her my ally. --Here we are! But wait one moment longer. --And once more, as to this gem. You see we may both be wrong--I as muchas you; but I firmly believe that I am in the right. If you make astatement contrary to mine I shall appear before the judges as a liar. We are now betrothed--we are but one, wholly one; what damages ordignifies one of us humiliates or elevates the other. If you, who loveme--you, who, as it is already whispered, are soon to be the mistress ofthe governor's house--make a statement opposed to mine they are certainto believe it. You see, your whole nature is pure kindness, but you arestill too young and innocent quite to understand all the duties of thatomnipotent love which beareth and endureth all things. If you do notyield to me cheerfully in this case you certainly do not love me as youought. And what is it to ask? I require nothing of you but that youshould state before the court that you saw Paula's necklace at noonto-day, and that there was a gem hanging to it--a gem with Love andPsyche engraved on it. "

"And I am to say that before all those men?" asked Katharina doubtfully. 

"You must indeed, you kind little angel!" cried Orion tenderly. "Anddo you think it pretty in a betrothed bride to refuse her lover's firstrequest so grudgingly, suspiciously, and ungraciously? Nay, nay. Ifthere is the tiniest spark of love for me in your heart, if you do notwant to see me reduced to implore Paula for mercy. . . . "

"But what is it all about? How can it matter so much to any one whethera gem or a mere plate of gold. .. . ?"

"All that I will explain later, " he hastily replied. 

"Tell me now. .. . "

"Impossible. We have already put the patience of the judges to toosevere a test. We have not a moment to lose. "

"Very well then; but I shall die of confusion and shame if I have to makea declaration. . . . "

"Which is perfectly truthful, and by which you can prove to me that youlove me, " he urged. 

"But it is dreadful!" she exclaimed anxiously. "At least fasten my veilclosely over my face. --All those bearded men. . . . "

"Like the ostrich, " said Orion, laughing as he complied. "If you reallycannot agree with your. .. . What is it you called me just now? Say itagain. "

"My dearest!" she said shyly but tenderly. 

She helped Orion to fold her veil twice over her face, and did not thrusthim aside when he whispered in her ear: "Let us see if a kiss cannot besweet even through all that wrapping!--Now, come. It will be all over ina few minutes. "

He led the way into the anteroom to the great hall, begged her to waita moment, and then went in and hastily informed the assembly that DameSusannah had entrusted her daughter to him only on condition that heshould escort her back again as soon as she had given her testimony. Then Paula was brought in and he desired her to be seated. 

It was with a sinking and anxious heart that Katharina had entered theanteroom. She had screened herself from a scolding before now by trivialsubterfuges, but never had told a serious lie; and every instinctrebelled against the demand that she should now state a direct falsehood. But could Orion, the noblest of mankind, the idol of the whole town, sopressingly entreat her to do anything that was wrong? Did not love--ashe had said--make it her duty to do everything that might screen him fromloss or injury? It did not seem to her to be quite as it should be, butperhaps she did not altogether understand the matter; she was so youngand inexperienced. She hated the idea, too, that, if she opposed herlover, he would have to come to terms with Paula. She had no lack ofself-possession, and she told herself that she might hold her own withany girl in Memphis; still, she felt the superiority of the handsome, tall, proud Syrian, nor could she forget how, the day before yesterday, when Paula had been walking up and down the garden with Orion the chiefofficer of Memphis had exclaimed: "What a wonderfully handsome couple!"She herself had often thought that no more beautiful, elegant and lovablecreature than Thomas' daughter walked the earth; she had longed andwatched for a glance or a kind word from her. But since hearing thosewords a bitter feeling had possessed her soul against Paula, and therehad been much to foster it. Paula always treated her like a childinstead of a grown-up girl, as she was. Why, that very morning, had shesought out her betrothed--for she might call him so now--and tried tokeep her away from him? And how was it that Orion, even while declaringhis love for her, had spoken more than warmly--enthusiastically of Paula?She must be on her guard, and though others should speak of the greatgood fortune that had fallen to her lot, Paula, at any rate, would notrejoice in it, for Katharina felt and knew that she was not indifferentto Orion. She had not another enemy in the world, but Paula was one;her love had everything to fear from her--and suddenly she asked herselfwhether the gold medallion she had seen might not indeed have been a gem?Had she examined the necklace closely, even for a moment? And why shouldshe fancy she had sharper sight than Orion with his large, splendid eyes?

He was right, as he always was. Most engraved gems were oval in form, and the pendant which she had seen and was to give evidence about, wasundoubtedly oval. Then it was not like Orion to require a falsehood ofher. In any case it was her duty to her betrothed to preserve from evil, and prevent him from concluding any alliance with that false Siren. Sheknew what she had to say; and she was about to loosen a portion of herveil from her face that she might look Paula steadfastly in the eyes, when Orion came back to fetch her into the hall where the Court wassitting. To his delight--nay almost to his astonishment--she stated withperfect confidence that a gem had been hanging to Paula's necklace atnoon that day; and when the onyx was shown her and she was asked if sheremembered the stone, she calmly replied:

"It may or it may not be the same; I only remember the oval gold back toit: besides I was only allowed to have the necklace in my hands for avery short time. "

When Nilus, the treasurer, desired her to look more closely at thefigures of Eros and Psyche to refresh her memory, she evaded it bysaying: "I do not like such heathen images: we Jacobite maidens weardifferent adornments. "

At this Paula rose and stepped towards her with a look of stern reproof;little Katharina was glad now that it had occurred to her to cover herface with a double veil. But the utter confusion she felt under theSyrian girl's gaze did not last long. Paula exclaimed reproach fully:"You speak of your faith. Like mine, it requires you to respect thetruth. Consider how much depends on your declaration; I implore you, child. . . "

But the girl interrupted her rival exclaiming with much irritation andvehement excitement:

"I am no longer a child, not even as compared with you; and I thinkbefore I speak, as I was taught to do. "

She threw back her little head with a confident air, and said verydecidedly:

"That onyx hung to the middle of the chain. "

"How dare you, you audacious hussy!" It was Perpetua, quite unable tocontain herself, who flung the words in her face. Katharina started asthough an asp had stung her and turned round on the woman who had daredto insult her so grossly and so boldly. She was on the verge of tears asshe looked helplessly about her for a defender; but she had not long towait, for Orion instantly gave orders that Perpetua should be imprisonedfor bearing false witness. Paula, however, as she had not perjuredherself, but had merely invented an impossible tale with a good motive, was dismissed, and her chest was to be replaced in her room. 

At this Paula once more stepped forth; she unhooked the onyx from thechain and flung it towards Gamaliel, who caught it, while she exclaimed:

"I make you a present of it, Jew! Perhaps the villain who hung it to mychain may buy it back again. The chain was given to my great-grandmotherby the saintly Theodosius, and rather than defile it by contact with thatgift from a villain, I will throw it into the Nile!--You--you, poor, deluded judges--I cannot be wroth with you, but I pity you!--My Hiram. .. "and she looked at the freedman, "is an honest soul whom I shall rememberwith gratitude to my dying day; but as to that unrighteous son of a mostrighteous father, that man. . . " and she raised her voice, while shepointed straight at Orion's face; but the young man interrupted her witha loud:

"Enough!"

She tried to control herself and replied:

"I will submit. Your conscience will tell you a hundred times over whatI need not say. One last word. . . " She went close up to him and saidin his ear:

"I have been able to refrain from using my deadliest weapon against youfor the sake of keeping my word. Now you, if you are not the basestwretch living, keep yours, and save Hiram. "

His only reply was an assenting nod; Paula paused on the threshold and, turning to Katharina, she added: "You, child--for you are but a child--with what nameless suffering will not the son of the Mukaukas repay youfor the service you have rendered him!" Then she left the room. Herknees trembled under her as she mounted the stairs, but when she hadagain taken her place by the side of the hapless, crazy girl a mercifulGod granted her the relief of tears. Her friend saw her and left her toweep undisturbed, till she herself called him and confided to him all shehad gone through in the course of this miserable day. 

Orion and Katharina had lost their good spirits; they went back to thecolonnade in a dejected mood. On the way she pressed him to explain toher why he had insisted on her making this declaration, but he put heroff till the morrow. They found Susannah alone, for his mother had beensent for by her husband, who was suffering more than usual, and she hadtaken Mary with her. 

After bidding the widow good-night and escorting her to her chariot, he returned to the hall where the Court was still sitting. There herecapitulated the case as it now stood, and all the evidence againstthe freed man. The verdict was then pronounced: Hiram was condemnedto death with but one dissentient voice that of Nilus the treasurer. 

Orion ordered that the execution of the sentence should be postponed; hedid not go back into the house, however, but had his most spirited horsesaddled and rode off alone into the desert. He had won, but he felt asthough in this race he had rushed into a morass and must be choked in it. 

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

Love has two faces: tender devotion and bitter aversionSelf-interest and egoism which drive him into the caveThe man who avoids his kind and lives in solitudeYou have a habit of only looking backwards