A Thorny Path — Complete
CHAPTER XIX.
In one of the few rooms of his vast palace which the chief priest hadreserved for the accommodation of the members of his own household, theyouth was received by Melissa, Timotheus's wife Euryale, and the ladyBerenike.
This lady was pleased to see the artist again to whom she was indebtedfor the portrait of her daughter. She had it now in her possession oncemore, for Philostratus had had it taken back to her house while theemperor was at his meal.
She rested on a sofa, quite worn out. She had passed through hours oftorment; for her concern about Melissa, who had become very dear toher, had given her much more anxiety than even the loss of herbeloved picture. Besides, the young girl was to her for the moment therepresentative of her sex, and the danger of seeing this pure, sweetcreature exposed to the will of a licentious tyrant drove her out ofher senses, and her lively fancy had resulted in violent outbreaks ofindignation. She now proposed all sorts of schemes, of which Euryale,the more prudent but not less warm-hearted wife of the chief priest,demonstrated the impossibility.
Like Berenike, a tender-hearted woman, whose smooth, brown hair hadalready begun to turn gray, she had also lost her only child. But yearshad passed since then, and she had accustomed herself to seek comfort inthe care of the sick and wretched. She was regarded all over the city asthe providence of all in need, whatever their condition and faith. Wherecharity was to be bestowed on a large scale--if hospitals or almshouseswere to be erected or endowed--she was appealed to first, and if shepromised her quiet but valuable assistance, the result was at oncesecured. For, besides her own and her husband's great riches, this ladyof high position, who was honored by all, had the purses of allthe heathens and Christians in the city at her disposal; both alikeconsidered that she belonged to them; and the latter, although she onlyheld with them in secret, had the better right.
At home, the society of distinguished men afforded her the greatestpleasure. Her husband allowed her complete freedom; although he, as thechief Greek priest of the city, would have preferred that she shouldnot also have had among her most constant visitors so many learnedChristians. But the god whom he served united in his own person most ofthe others; and the mysteries which he superintended taught thateven Serapis was only a symbolical embodiment of the universal soul,fulfilling its eternal existence by perpetually re-creating itself underconstant and immutable laws. A portion of that soul, which dwelt inall created things, had its abode in each human being, to return tothe divine source after death. Timotheus firmly clung to this pantheistcreed; still, he held the honorable post of head of the Museum--in theplace of the Roman priest of Alexander, a man of less learning--and wasfamiliar not only with the tenets of his heathen predecessors, but withthe sacred scriptures of the Jews and Christians; and in the ethics ofthese last he found much which met his views.
He, who, at the Museum, was counted among the skeptics, liked biblicalsentences, such as "All is vanity," and "We know but in part." Thecommand to love your neighbor, to seek peace, to thirst after truth, theinjunction to judge the tree by its fruit, and to fear more for the soulthan the body, were quite to his mind.
He was so rich that the gifts of the visitors to the temple, which hispredecessors had insisted on, were of no importance to him. Thus hemingled a great deal that was Christian with the faith of which he waschief minister and guardian. Only the conviction with which men likeClemens and Origen, who were friends of his wife, declared that thedoctrine to which they adhered was the only right one--was, in fact, thetruth itself--seemed to the skeptic "foolishness."
His wife's friends had converted his brother Zeno to Christianity; buthe had no need to fear lest Euryale should follow them. She loved himtoo much, and was too quiet and sensible, to be baptized, and thusexpose him, the heathen high-priest, to the danger of being deprived ofthe power which she knew to be necessary to his happiness.
Every Alexandrian was free to belong to any other than the heathencreeds, and no one had taken offence at his skeptical writings. WhenEuryale acted like the best of the Christian women, he could not takeit amiss; and he would have scorned to blame her preference for theteaching of the crucified God.
As to Caesar's character he had not yet made up his mind.
He had expected to find him a half-crazy villain, and his rage afterhe had heard the epigram against himself, left with the rope, hadstrengthened the chief priest's opinion. But since then he had heard ofmuch that was good in him; and Timotheus felt sure that his judgmentwas unbiased by the high esteem Caesar showed to him, while he treatedothers like slaves. His improved opinion had been raised by theintercourse he had held with Caesar. The much-abused man had on theseoccasions shown that he was not only well educated but also thoughtful;and yesterday evening, before Caracalla had gone to rest exhausted, thehigh-priest, with his wise experience, had received exactly the sameimpressions as the easily influenced artist; for Caesar had bewailed hissad fate in pathetic terms, and confessed himself indeed deeply guilty,but declared that he had intended to act for the best, had sacrificedfortune, peace of mind, and comfort to the welfare of the state. Hiskeen eye had marked the evils of the time, and he had acknowledged thathis efforts to extirpate the old maladies in order to make room forbetter things had been a failure, and that, instead of earning thanks,he had drawn down on himself the hatred of millions.
It was for this reason that Timotheus, on rejoining his household,had assured them that, as he thought over this interview, he expectedsomething good--yes, perhaps the best--from the young criminal in thepurple.
But the lady Berenike had declared with scornful decision that Caracallahad deceived her brother-in-law; and when Alexander likewise tried tosay a word for the sufferer, she got into a rage and accused him offoolish credulity.
Melissa, who had already spoken in favor of the emperor, agreed,in spite of the matron, with her brother. Yes, Caracalla had sinnedgreatly, and his conviction that Alexander's soul lived in him andRoxana's in her was foolish enough; but the marvelous likeness to herof the portrait on the gem would astonish any one. That good and nobleimpulses stirred his soul she was certain. But Berenike only shruggedher shoulders contemptuously; and when the chief priest remarked thatyesterday evening Caracalla had in fact not been in a position to attenda feast, and that a portion, at least, of his other offenses mightcertainly be put down to the charge of his severe suffering, the ladyexclaimed:
"And is it also his bodily condition that causes him to fill a house ofmourning with festive uproar? I am indifferent as to what makes him amalefactor. For my part, I would sooner abandon this dear child to thecare of a criminal than to that of a madman."
But the chief priest and the brother and sister both declared Caesar'smind to be as sound and sharp as any one's; and Timotheus asked who,at the present time, was without superstition, and the desire ofcommunicating with departed souls. Still the matron would not allowherself to be persuaded, and after the chief priest had been called awayto the service of the god, Euryale reproved her sister-in-law for hertoo great zeal. When the wisdom of hoary old age and impetuous youthagree in one opinion, it is commonly the right one.
"And I maintain," cried Berenike--and her large eyes flamed angrily--"itis criminal to ignore my advice. Fate has robbed you as well as me of adear child. I will not also lose this one, who is as precious to me as adaughter."
Melissa bent over the lady's hands and kissed them gratefully,exclaiming with tearful eyes, "But he has been very good to me, and hasassured me-"
"Assured!" repeated Berenike disdainfully. She then drew the young girlimpetuously toward her, kissed her on her forehead, placed her handson her head as if to protect her, and turned to the artist as shecontinued:
"I stand by what I recommended before. This very night Melissa must getfar away from here. You, Alexander, must accompany her. My own ship, the'Berenike and Korinna'--Seleukus gave it to me and my daughter--is readyto start. My sister lives in Carthage. Her husband, the first man inthe city, is my friend. You will find protec
tion and shelter in theirhouse."
"And how about our father and Philip?" interrupted Alexander. "If wefollow your advice, it is certain death to them!"
The matron laughed scornfully.
"And that is what you expect from this good, this great and noblesovereign!"
"He proves himself full of favors to his friends," answered Alexander,"but woe betide those who offend him!"
Berenike looked thoughtfully at the ground, and added, more quietly:
"Then try first to release your people, and afterward embark on my ship.It shall be ready for you. Melissa will use it, I know.--My veil, child!The chariot waits for me at the Temple of Isis.--You will accompanyme there, Alexander, and we will drive to the harbor. There I willintroduce you to the captain. It will be wise. Your father and brotherare dearer to you than your sister; she is more important to me. If onlyI could go away myself--away from here, from the desolate house, andtake her with me!"
And she raised her arm, as if she would throw a stone into the distance.
She impetuously embraced the young girl, took leave of hersister-in-law, and left the room with Alexander.
Directly Euryale was alone with Melissa, she comforted the girl in herkind, composed manner; for the unhappy matron's gloomy presentiments hadfilled Melissa with fresh anxieties.
And what had she not gone through during the day!
Soon after her perilous interview with Caracalla, Timotheus, withthe chief of the astrologers from the Serapeum, and the emperor'sastronomer, had come to her, to ask her on what day and at what hour shewas born. They also inquired concerning the birthdays of her parents,and other events of her life. Timotheus had informed her that theemperor had ordered them to cast her nativity.
Soon after dinner she had gone, accompanied by the lady Berenike, whohad found her at the chief priest's house, to visit her lover in thesick-rooms of the Serapeum. Thankful and happy, she had found himwith fully recovered consciousness, but the physician and the freedmanAndreas, whom she met at the door of the chamber, had impressed on herthe importance of avoiding all excitement. So it had not been possiblefor her to tell him what had happened to her people, or of the perilousstep she had taken in order to save them. But Diodoros had talked oftheir wedding, and Andreas could confirm the fact that Polybius wishedto see it celebrated as soon as possible.
Several pleasant subjects were discussed; but between whiles Melissahad to dissemble and give evasive answers to Diodoros's questions as towhether she had already arranged with her brother and friends who shouldbe the youths and maidens to form the wedding procession, and sing thehymeneal song.
As the two whispered to one another and looked tenderly at eachother--for Diodoros had insisted on her allowing him to kiss not onlyher hands but also her sweet red lips--Berenike had pictured her deaddaughter in Melissa's place. What a couple they would have been! Howproudly and gladly she would have led them to the lovely villa atKanopus, which her husband and she had rebuilt and decorated with theidea that some day Korinna, her husband, and--if the gods should grantit--their children, might inhabit it! But even Melissa and Diodoros madea fine couple, and she tried with all her heart not to grudge her allthe happiness that she had wished for her own child.
When it was time to depart, she joined the hands of the betrothed pair,and called down a blessing from the gods.
Diodoros accepted this gratefully.
He only knew that this majestic lady had made Melissa's acquaintancethrough Alexander, and had won her affection, and he encouraged theimpression that this woman, whose Juno-like beauty haunted him, hadvisited him on his bed of sickness in the place of his long-lost mother.
Outside the sick-room Andreas again met Melissa, and, after she hadtold him of her visit to the emperor, he impressed on her eagerly on noaccount to obey the tyrant's call again. Then he had promised to hideher securely, either on Zeno's estate or else in the house of anotherfriend, which was difficult of access. When Dame Berenike had again, andwith particular eagerness, suggested her ship, Andreas had exclaimed:
"In the garden, on the ship, under the earth--only not back to Caesar!"
The last question of the freedman's, as to whether she had meditatedfurther on his discourse, had reminded her of the sentence, "Thefullness of the time is come"; and afterward the thought occurred toher, again and again, that in the course of the next few hours somedecisive event would happen to her, "fulfilling the time," as Andreasexpressed it.
When, therefore, somewhat later, she was alone with the chief priest'swife, who had concluded her comforting, pious exhortations, Melissaasked the lady Euryale whether she had ever heard the sentence, "Whenthe fullness of the time is come."
At this the lady cried, gazing at the girl with surprised inquiry:
"Are you, then, after all, connected with the Christians?"
"Certainly not," answered the young girl, firmly. "I heard itaccidentally, and Andreas, Polybius's freedman, explained it to me."
"A good interpreter," replied the elder lady. "I am only an ignorantwoman; yet, child, even I have experienced that a day, an hour, comes toevery man in the course of his life in which he afterward sees that thetime was fulfilled. As the drops become mingled with the stream, so atthat moment the things we have done and thought unite to carry us on anew current, either to salvation or perdition. Any moment may bring thecrisis; for that reason the Christians are right when they call on oneanother to watch. You also must keep your eyes open. When the time--whoknows how soon?--is fulfilled for you, it will determine the good orevil of your whole life."
"An inward voice tells me that also," answered Melissa, pressing herhands on her panting bosom. "Just feel how my heart beats!"
Euryale, smiling, complied with this wish, and as she did so sheshuddered. How pure and lovable was this young creature; and Melissalooked to her like a lamb that stood ready to hasten trustfully to meetthe wolf!
At last she led her guest into the room where supper was prepared.
The master of the house would not be able to share it, and while thetwo women sat opposite one another, saying little, and scarcely touchingeither food or drink, Philostratus was announced.
He came as messenger from Caracalla, who wished to speak to Melissa.
"At this hour? Never, never! It is impossible!" exclaimed Euryale,who was usually so calm; but Philostratus declared, nevertheless, thatdenial was useless. The emperor was suffering particularly severely,and begged to remind Melissa of her promise to serve him gladly if herequired her. Her presence, he assured Euryale, would do the sick mangood, and he guaranteed that, so long as Caesar was tormented by thisunbearable pain, the young woman had nothing to fear.
Melissa, who had risen from her seat when the philosopher had entered,exclaimed:
"I am not afraid, and will go with you gladly--"
"Quite right, child," answered Philostratus, affectionately. Euryale,however, found it difficult to keep back her tears while she stroked thegirl's hair and arranged the folds of her garment. When at last shesaid good-by to Melissa and was embracing her, she was reminded of thefarewell she had taken, many years ago, of a Christian friend beforeshe was led away by the lictors to martyrdom in the circus. Finally, shewhispered something in the philosopher's ear, and received from him thepromise to return with Melissa as soon as possible.
Philostratus was, in fact, quite easy. Just before, Caracalla's helplessglance had met his sympathizing gaze, and the suffering Caesar had saidnothing to him but:
"O Philostratus, I am in such pain!" and these words still rang in theears of this warm-hearted man.
While he was endeavoring to comfort the emperor, Caesar's eyes hadfallen on the gem, and he asked to see it. He gazed at it attentivelyfor some time, and when he returned it to the philosopher he had orderedhim to fetch the prototype of Roxana.
Closely enveloped in the veil which Euryale had placed on her head,Melissa passed from room to room, keeping near to the philosopher.
Wherever she appeared she heard mur
muring and whispering that troubledher, and tittering followed her from several of the rooms as she leftthem; even from the large hall where the emperor's friends awaited hisorders in numbers, she heard a loud laugh that frightened and annoyedher.
She no longer felt as unconstrained as she had been that morning whenshe had come before Caesar. She knew that she would have to be on herguard; that anything, even the worst, might be expected from him. But asPhilostratus described to her, on the way, how terribly the unfortunateman suffered, her tender heart was again drawn to him, to whom--as shenow felt--she was bound by an indefinable tie. She, if any one, as sherepeated to herself, was able to help him; and her desire to put thetruth of this conviction to the proof--for she could only regard itas too amazing to be grounded in fact--was seconded by the lessdisinterested hope that, while attending on the sufferer, she might findan opportunity of effecting the release of her father and brother.
Philostratus went on to announce her arrival, and she, while waiting,tried to pray to the manes of her mother; but, before she couldsufficiently collect her thoughts, the door opened. Philostratussilently beckoned to her, and she stepped into the tablinum, which wasbut dimly lighted by a few lamps.
Caracalla was still resting here; for every movement increased the painthat tormented him.
How quiet it was! She thought she could hear her own heart beating.
Philostratus remained standing by the door, but she went on tiptoetoward the couch, fearing her light footsteps might disturb the emperor.Yet before she had reached the divan she stopped still, and then sheheard the plaintive rattle in the sufferer's throat, and from thebackground of the room the easy breathing of the burly physician andof old Adventus, both of whom had fallen asleep; and then a peculiartapping. The lion beat the floor with his tail with pleasure atrecognizing her.
This noise attracted the invalid's attention, and when he openedhis closed eyes and saw Melissa, who was anxiously watching all hismovements, he called to her lightly with his hand on his brow:
"The animal has a good memory, and greets you in my name. You were sureto come--, I knew it!"
The young girl stepped nearer to him, and answered, kindly, "Since youneeded me, I gladly followed Philostratus."
"Because I needed you?" asked the emperor.
"Yes," she replied, "because you require nursing."
"Then, to keep you, I shall wish to be ill often," he answered, quickly;but he added, sadly, "only not so dreadfully ill as I have been to-day."
One could hear how laborious talking was to him, and the few words hehad sought and found, in order to say something kind to Melissa, had sohurt his shattered nerves and head that he sank back, gasping, on thecushions.
Then for some time all was quiet, until Caracalla took his hand from hisforehead and continued, as if in excuse:
"No one seems to know what it is. And if I talk ever so softly, everyword vibrates through my brain."
"Then you must not speak," interrupted Melissa, eagerly. "If you wantanything, only make signs. I shall understand you without words, and thequieter it is here the better."
"No, no; you must speak," begged the invalid. "When the others talk,they make the beating in my head ten times worse, and excite me; but Ilike to hear your voice."
"The beating?" interrupted Melissa, in whom this word awoke oldmemories. "Perhaps you feel as if a hammer was hitting you over the lefteye?
"If you move rapidly, does it not pierce your skull, and do you not feelas sick as if you were on the rocking sea?"
"Then you also know this torment?" asked Caracalla, surprised; butshe answered, quietly, that her mother had suffered several times fromsimilar headaches, and had described them to her.
Caesar sank back again on the pillows, moved his dry lips, and glancedtoward the drink which Galen had prescribed for him; and Melissa,who almost as a child had long nursed a dear invalid, guessed what hewanted, brought him the goblet, and gave him a draught.
Caracalla rewarded her with a grateful look. But the physic only seemedto increase the pain. He lay there panting and motionless, until, tryingto find a new position, he groaned, lightly:
"It is as if iron was being hammered here. One would think others mighthear it."
At the same time he seized the girl's hand and placed it on his burningbrow.
Melissa felt the pulse in the sufferer's temple throbbing hard and shortagainst her fingers, as she had her mother's when she laid her cool handon her aching forehead; and then, moved by the wish to comfort and heal,she let her right hand rest over the sick man's eyes. As soon as shefelt one hand was hot, she put the other in its place; and it must haverelieved the patient, for his moans ceased by degrees, and he finallysaid, gratefully:
"What good that does me! You are--I knew you would help me. It isalready quite quiet in my brain. Once more your hand, dear girl!"
Melissa willingly obeyed him, and as he breathed more and more easily,she remembered that her mother's headache had often been relieved whenshe had placed her hand on her forehead. Caesar, now opening his eyeswide, and looking her full in the face, asked why she had not allowedhim sooner to reap the benefit of this remedy.
Melissa slowly withdrew her hand, and with drooping eyes answeredgently:
"You are the emperor, a man... and I..." But Caracalla interrupted hereagerly, and with a clear voice:
"Not so, Melissa! Do not you feel, like me, that something else draws usto one another, like what binds a man to his wife?--There lies thegem. Look at it once again--No, child, no! This resemblance is notmere accident. The short-sighted, might call it superstition or a vainillusion; I know better. At least a portion of Alexander's soul lives inthis breast. A hundred signs--I will tell you about it later--make ita certainty to me. And yesterday morning.... I see it all again beforeme.... You stood above me, on the left, at a window.... I looked up;...our eyes met, and I felt in the depths of my heart a strange emotion....I asked myself, silently, where I had seen that lovely face before. Andthe answer rang, you have already often met her; you know her!"
"My face reminded you of the gem," interrupted Melissa, disquieted.
"No, no," continued Caesar. "It was some thing else. Why had none ofmy many gems ever reminded me before of living people? Why did yourpicture, I know not how often, recur to my mind? And you? Only recollectwhat you have done for me. How marvelously we were brought together! Andall this in the course of a single, short day. And you also.... I askyou, by all that is holy to you... Did you, after you saw me in thecourt of sacrifice, not think of me so often and so vividly that itastonished you?"
"You are Caesar," answered Melissa, with increasing anxiety.
"So you thought of my purple robes?" asked Caracalla, and his faceclouded over; "or perhaps only of my power that might be fatal to yourfamily? I will know. Speak the truth, girl, by the head of your father!"
Then Melissa poured forth this confession from her oppressed heart:
"Yes, I could not help remembering you constantly,... and I never sawyou in purple, but just as you had stood there on the steps;... andthen--ah! I have told you already how sorry I was for your sufferings.I felt as if... but how can I describe it truly?--as if you stood muchnearer to me than the ruler of the world could to a poor, humble girl.It was... eternal gods!..."
She stopped short; for she suddenly recollected anxiously that thisconfession might prove fatal to her. The sentence about the time whichshould be fulfilled for each was ringing in her ears, and it seemed toher that she heard for the second time the lady Berenike's warning.
But Caracalla allowed her no time to think; for he interrupted her,greatly pleased, with the cry:
"It is true, then! The immortals have wrought as great a miracle in youas in me. We both owe them thanks, and I will show them how gratefulI can be by rich sacrifices. Our souls, which destiny had already onceunited, have met again. That portion of the universal soul which of yoredwelt in Roxana, and now in you, Melissa, has also vanquished the painwhich has embittered my li
fe... You have proved it!--And now... it isbeginning to throb again more violently--now--beloved and restored one,help me once more!"
Melissa perceived anxiously how the emperor's face had flushed againduring this last vehement speech, and at the same time the pain hadagain contracted his forehead and eyes. And she obeyed his command, butthis time only in shy submission. When she found that he became quieter,and the movement of her hand once more did him good, she recovered herpresence of mind. She remembered how often the quiet application of herhand had helped her mother to sleep.
She therefore explained to Caracalla, in a low whisper directly he beganto speak again, that her desire to give him relief would be vain if hedid not keep his eyes and lips closed. And Caracalla yielded, while herhand moved as lightly over the brow of the terrible man as when yearsago it had soothed her mother to sleep.
When the sufferer, after a little time, murmured, with closed eyes
"Perhaps I could sleep," she felt as if great happiness had befallenher.
She listened attentively to every breath, and looked as if spell-boundinto his face, until she was quite sure that sleep had completelyovercome Caesar.
She then crept gently on tiptoe to Philostratus, who had looked on insilent surprise at all that had passed between his sovereign and thegirl. He, who was always inclined to believe in any miraculous cure, ofwhich so many had been wrought by his hero Apollonius, thought he hadactually witnessed one, and gazed with an admiration bordering on aweat the young creature who appeared to him to be a gracious instrument ofthe gods.
"Let me go now," Melissa whispered to her friend. "He sleeps, and willnot wake for some time."
"At your command," answered the philosopher, respectfully. At thesame moment a loud voice was heard from the next room, which Melissarecognized as her brother Alexander's, who impetuously insisted on hisright of--being allowed at any time to see the emperor.
"He will wake him," murmured the philosopher, anxiously; but Melissawith prompt determination threw her veil over her head and went into theadjoining room.
Philostratus at first heard violent language issuing from the mouth ofTheocritus and the other courtiers, and the artist's answers were notless passionate. Then he recognized Melissa's voice; and when quietsuddenly reigned on that side of the door, the young girl again crossedthe threshold.
She glanced toward Caracalla to see if he still slept, and then, with asigh of relief, beckoned to her friend, and begged him in a whisper toescort her past the staring men. Alexander followed them.
Anger and surprise were depicted on his countenance, which was usuallyso happy. He had come with a report which might very likely induceCaesar to order the release of his father and brother, and his heart hadstood still with fear and astonishment when the favorite Theocritus hadtold him in the anteroom, in a way that made the blood rush into hisface, that his sister had been for some time endeavoring to comfort thesuffering emperor--and it was nearly midnight.
Quite beside himself, he wished to force his way into Caesar's presence,but Melissa had at that moment come out and stood in his way, and haddesired him and the noble Romans, in such a decided and commanding tone,to lower their voices, that they and her brother were speechless.
What had happened to his modest sister during the last few days? Melissagiving him orders which he feebly obeyed! It seemed impossible! Butthere was something reassuring in her manner. She must certainly havethought it right to act thus, and it must have been worthy of her, orshe would not have carried her charming head so high, or looked him sofreely and calmly in the face.
But how had she dared to come between him and his duty to his father andbrother?
While he followed her closely and silently through the imperial rooms,the implicit obedience he had shown her became more and more difficultto comprehend; and when at last they stood in the empty corridorwhich divided Caesar's quarters from those of the high-priest, andPhilostratus had returned to his post at the side of his sovereign, hecould hold out no longer, and cried to her indignantly:
"So far, I have followed you like a boy; I do not myself know why. Butit is not yet too late to turn round; and I ask you, what gave you theright to prevent my doing my best for our people?"
"Your loud talking, that threatened to wake Caesar," she replied,seriously. "His sleeping could alone save me from watching by him thewhole night."
Alexander then felt sorry he had been so foolishly turbulent, and afterMelissa had told him in a few words what she had gone through in thelast few hours he informed her of what had brought him to visit theemperor so late.
Johannes the lawyer, Berenike's Christian freedman, he began, hadvisited their father in prison and had heard the order given to placeHeron and Philip as state prisoners and oarsmen on board a galley.
This had taken place in the afternoon, and the Christian had furtherlearned that the prisoners would be led to the harbor two hours beforesunset. This was the truth, and yet the infamous Zminis had assured theemperor, at noon, that their father and Philip were already far on theirway to Sardinia. The worthless Egyptian had, then, lied to the emperor;and it would most likely cost the scoundrel his neck. But for this,there would have been time enough next day. What had brought him thereat so late an hour was the desire to prevent the departure of thegalley; for John had heard, from the Christian harbor-watch that theanchor was not yet weighed. The ship could therefore only get out to seaat sunrise; the chain that closed the harbor would not be opened tillthen. If the order to stop the galley came much after daybreak, shewould certainly be by that time well under way, and their father andPhilip might have succumbed to the hard rowing before a swift triremecould overtake and release them.
Melissa had listened to this information with mixed feelings. She hadperhaps precipitated her father and brother into misery in order to saveherself; for a terrible fate awaited the state-prisoners at the oars.And what could she do, an ignorant child, who was of so little use?
Andreas had told her that it was the duty of a Christian and of everygood man, if his neighbor's welfare were concerned, to sacrifice his ownfortunes; and for the happiness and lives of those dearest to her--forthey, of all others, were her "neighbors"--she felt that she could doso. Perhaps she might yet succeed in repairing the mischief she had donewhen she had allowed the emperor to sleep without giving one thought toher father. Instead of waking him, she had misused her new power overher brother, and, by preventing his speaking, had perhaps frustrated therescue of her people.
But idle lamenting was of as little use here as at any other time; soshe resolutely drew her veil closer round her head and called to herbrother, "Wait here till I return!"
"What are you going to do?" asked Alexander, startled.
"I am going back to the invalid," she explained, decisively.
On this her brother seized her arm, and, wildly excited, forbade thisstep in the name of his father.
But at his vehement shout, "I will not allow it!" she struggled to freeherself, and cried out to him:
"And you? Did not you, whose life is a thousand times more importantthan mine, of your own free-will go into captivity and to death in orderto save our father?"
"It was for my sake that he had been robbed of his freedom," interruptedAlexander; but she added, quickly:
"And if I had not thought only of myself, the command to release him andPhilip would by this time have been at the harbor. I am going."
Alexander then took his hand from her arm, and exclaimed, as if urged bysome internal force, "Well, then, go!"
"And you," continued Melissa, hastily, "go and seek the lady Euryale.She is expecting me. Tell her all, and beg her in my name to go torest. Also tell her I remembered the sentence about the time, which wasfulfilled. ... Mark the words. If I am running again into danger, tellher that I do it because a voice says to me that it is right. And it isright, believe me, Alexander!"
The artist drew his sister to him and kissed her; yet she hardlyunderstood his anxious good wishes; for his vo
ice was choked by emotion.
He had taken it for granted that he should accompany her as far as theemperor's room, but she would not allow it. His reappearance would onlylead to fresh quarrels.
He also gave in to this; but he insisted on returning here to wait forher.
After Melissa had vanished into Caesar's quarters he immediatelycarried out his sister's wish, and told the lady Euryale of all that hadhappened.
Encouraged by the matron, who was not less shocked than he had been atMelissa's daring, he returned to the anteroom, where, at first, greatlyexcited, he walked up and down, and then sank on a marble seat to waitfor his sister. He was frequently overpowered by sleep. The things thatcast a shadow on his sunny mind vanished from him, and a pleasing dreamshowed him, instead of the alarming picture which haunted him beforesleeping, the beautiful Christian Agatha.