CHAPTER XI.
The inhabitants of the governor's residence passed a fearful night.Martina asked herself what sin she had committed that she, of allpeople, should be picked out to witness such a disaster.
And where were her schemes of marriage now? Any movement in such heatwas indeed scarcely endurable; but she would have moved from one partof the house to another a dozen times, and allowed herself to be tossedhither and thither like a ball, if it could have enabled her to save herdear "great Sesostris" from such hideous peril. And at the bottom of allthis was, no doubt, this wild, senseless business of the nuns.
And these Arabs! They simply helped themselves to whatever they fancied,and were, of course, in a position to strip the son of the greatMukaukas of all he possessed and reduce him to beggary. A prettybusiness this!
Heliodora, to be sure, had enough for both, and she and her husbandwould not forget them in their will; but there was more than this in thebalance now: it was a matter of life and death.
A cold shudder ran through her at the thought; and her fears were onlytoo well founded: the black Arab who had come to parley with her, andhad finally allowed her to remain under this roof till next day, hadtold her as much through the interpreter. A fearful, horrible, namelesscatastrophe! And that she should be in the midst of it and have to seeit all!
Then her husband, her poor Justinus! How hard this would fall on him!She could not cease weeping; and before she fell asleep she prayedfervently indeed, to the saints and the dear Mother of God, that theywould bring all to a happy issue. She closed her eyes on the thought:"What a misfortune!" and she woke to it again early in the morning.
She, however, had known nothing of the worst horrors of that fatalnight.
A troop of Arab soldiers had crossed the Nile at nightfall, some onfoot or on horseback and some in boats, led by Obada the Vekeel, andhad invested the governor's residence. When they had fully assuredthemselves that Orion was indeed absent they took Nilus prisoner. Itwas then Obada's business to inform the Mukaukas' widow of what hadhappened, and to tell her that she must quit the house next day. Thismust be done, because he had views of his own as to what was to becomeof the venerable house of the oldest family in the country.
Neforis was still up, and when the interpreter was announced as Obada'sforerunner, she was in the fountain-room. He found her a good dealexcited; for, although she was incapable of any consecutive train ofthought and, when her mind was required to exert itself, her ideas onlycame like lightning-flashes through her brain, she had observed thatsomething unusual was going on. Sebek and her maid had evaded herenquiries, and would say no more than that Amru's representativehad come to speak with the young master. It seemed to be somethingimportant, perhaps some false accusation.
The interpreter now explained that Orion himself was accused of havingplanned and aided an enterprise which had cost the lives of twelve Arabsoldiers; and, as she knew, any injury inflicted even on a single Moslemby an Egyptian was punished by death and the confiscation of his goods.Besides this, her son was accused of a robbery.
At the close of this communication, to which Neforis listened with avacant stare, horrified and at last almost crushed, the interpreterbegged that she would grant the Vekeel an audience.
"Not just yet--give me a few minutes," said the widow, bringing outthe words with difficulty: first she must have recourse to her secretspecific. When she had done so, she expressed her readiness tosee Obada. Her son's swarthy foe was anxious to appear a mild andmagnanimous man in her eyes, so it was with flattering servility andmany smirking grins that he communicated to her the necessity for herquitting the house in which she had passed the longest and happiest halfof her life, and no later than next day.
To his announcement that her private fortune would remain untouched, andthat she would be at liberty to reside in Memphis or to go to her ownhouse in Alexandria, she indifferently replied that "she should see."
She then enquired whether the Arabs had yet succeeded in capturing herson.
"Not actually," replied the Vekeel. "But we know where he is hiding,and by to-morrow or the next day we shall lay hands on the unhappy youngman."
But, as he spoke, the widow detected a malicious gleam in his eyes towhich, so far, he had tried to give a sympathetic expression, and shewent on with a slight shake of the bead: "Then it is a case of life anddeath?"
"Compose yourself, noble lady," was the reply. "Of death alone."
Neforis looked up to heaven and for some minutes did not speak; then sheasked:
"And who has accused him of robbery?" "The head of his own Church...."
"Benjamin?" she murmured with a peculiar smile. Only yesterday she hadmade her will in favor of the patriarch and the Church. "If Benjamincould see that," said she to herself, "he would change his views of youand your people, and have prayers constantly said for us."
As she spoke no more the Vekeel sat looking at her inquisitively andsomewhat at a loss, till at length she rose, and with no little dignitydismissed him, remarking that now their business was at an end and shehad nothing further to say to him.
This closed the interview; and as the Vekeel quitted the fountain-roomhe muttered to himself: "What a woman! Either she is possessed and herbrain is crazed, or she is of a rarely heroic pattern."
Neforis was supported to her own room; when she was in bed she desiredher maid to bring a small box out of her chest and place it on thelittle table containing medicines by the bead of the couch.
As soon as she was alone she took out two letters which George hadwritten to her before their marriage, and a poem which Orion had onceaddressed to her; she tried to read them, but the words danced beforeher eyes, and she was forced to lay them aside. She took up a littlepacket containing hair cut from the heads of her sons after death, anda lock of her husband's. She gazed on these dear memorials with rapttenderness, and now the poppy juice began to take effect: the images ofthose departed ones rose clear in her mind, and she was as near to themas though they were standing in living actuality by her side.
Still holding the curls in her hand, she looked up into vacancy, tryingto apprehend clearly what had occurred within the last few hours andwhat lay before her: She must leave this room, this ample couch, thishouse--all, in short, that was bound up with the dearest memories ofthose she had loved. She was to be forced to this--but did it beseemher to submit to this Negro, this stranger in the house where she wasmistress? She shook her head with a scornful smile; then opening a glassphial, which was still half-full of opium pillules, she placed a few onher tongue and again gazed sky-wards.--Another face now looked down onher; she saw the husband from whom not even death could divide her, andat his feet their two murdered sons. Presently Orion seemed to riseout of the clouds, as a diver comes up from the water, and make forthe shore of the island on which George and the other two seemed to bestanding. His father opened his arms to receive him and clasped him tohis heart, while she herself--or was it only her wraith--went to theothers, who hurried forward to greet her tenderly; and then her husband,too, met her, and she found rest on his bosom.
For hours, and long before the incursion of the Arabs, she had beenfeeling half stunned and her mind clouded; but now a delicious,slumberous lethargy came over her, to which her whole being urged herto yield. But every time her eyes closed, the thought of the morrow shotthrough her brain, and finally, with a great effort, she sat up, tooksome water--which was always close at hand--shook into it the remainingpillules in the bottle, and drank it off to the very last drop.
Her hand was steady; the happy smile on her lips, and the eagerexpression of her eyes, might have led a spectator to believe that shewas thirsty and had mixed herself a refreshing draught. She had no lookof a desperate creature laying violent hands on her own life; shefelt no hesitancy, no fear of death, no burthen of the guilt she wasincurring--nothing but ecstatic weariness and hope; blissful hope of alife without end, united to those she loved.
Hardly had she swallowed the deadly draught
when she shivered with asudden chill. Raising herself a little she called her maid, who wassitting up in the adjoining room; and as the woman looked alarmed ather mistress's fixed stare, she stammered out: "A priest--quick--I amdying."
The woman flew off to the viridarium to call Sebek, who was standing infront of the tablinum with the Vekeel; she told him what had happened,and the Negro gave him leave to obey his dying mistress, escorting himas far as the gate. Just outside, the steward met a deacon who hadbeen giving the blessing of the Church to a poor creature dying of thepestilence, and in a few minutes they were standing by the widow's bed.
The locks of her sons' hair lay by her side; her hands were folded overa crucifix; but her eyes, which had been fixed on the features of theSaviour, had wandered from it and again gazed up to Heaven.
The priest spoke her name, but she mistook him for her son and murmuredin loving accents:
"Orion, poor, poor child! And you, Mary, my darling, my sweet littlepet! Your father--yes, dear boy, only come with me.--Your father iskind again and forgives you. All those I loved are together now, and noone--Who can part us? Husband--George, listen..."
The priest performed his office, but she paid no heed, still staringupwards; her smiling lips continued to move, but no articulate soundcame from them. At last they were still, her eyelids fell, her handsdropped the crucifix, a slight shiver ran through her limbs, which thenrelaxed, and she opened her mouth as though to draw a deeper breath.But it closed no more, and when the faithful steward pressed her lipstogether her face was rigid and her heart had ceased to beat.
The honest man sobbed aloud; when he carried the melancholy news to theVekeel, Obada growled out a curse, and said to a subaltern officer whowas super-intending the loading of his camels with the treasures fromthe tablinum:
"I meant to have treated that cursed old woman with conspicuousgenerosity, and now she has played me this trick; and in Medina theywill lay her death at my door, unless..."
But here he broke off; and as he once more watched the loading of thecamels, he only thought to himself: "In playing for such high stake's,a few gold pieces more or less do not count. A few more heads must fallyet--the handsome Egyptian first and foremost.--If the conspirators atMedina only play their part! The fall of Omar means that of Amru, andthat will set everything right."