CHAPTER XVII
A WORD IN SEASON
The summer waxed over Egypt. The Delta, back from the yellow plainwhich fronted the sea, was in full flower of the wheat. The happyfellahs lay under the shade of dom-palms and drowsed the morning in andthe sunset out, for there was nothing to do since Rannu of the Harvestshad laid her beneficent hand upon the fields. Across theMediterranean, nearer the snows, the wheat flowered later and the Feastof Flora held in celebration of the blossoming fields would arrive withthe new moon. Egypt could have given her celebration in honor of Floraweeks earlier, but she preferred to wait for Rome.
These were not uneventful days in the alabarch's house, for Cypros,with Drumah at her feet, fashioned with her own hands Agrippa'swardrobe and prepared for his departure, while the prince idled aboutthe alabarch's garden, apparently oblivious to the call of his need togo to Rome, in his enjoyment of Junia's fellowship. And Marsyas, dailymore grave, gazed at him askance and furthered the plans for the trip,tirelessly.
His patience might have continued unworn, but for a single incident.
Late one night, when oppressed by the crowding of his unhappy thoughts,he arose from his bed to walk the streets in search of composure, and,descending into the darkness of the alabarch's house, he heard thedoors swing in softly. Expecting robbers, or at least a servantreturning by stealth from a night's revel, he stepped down into thegloom and waited till the intruder should pass.
Softly the unknown approached and laid hand on the stair-rail toascend. At the second step the figure was between him and the windowlighting the stairs. Against the lesser darkness and the starswithout, he saw Lydia's outlines etched. Noiselessly, she passed upand out of hearing.
In his soul, he knew that she had been to the Nazarenes!
"To-morrow," he said grimly to himself, "I prepare the prince's ship!There passes a stiff-necked sacrifice to Saul of Tarsus, unless I canbring him low!"
The next morning, Justin Classicus received a letter, by a merchantship from Syria. He retired into his chamber and read it:
"O Brother," it said, "that dwelleth among the heathen, this from thyfriend who envieth thy banishment:
"I delayed opening thy letter three days, believing it to come from himwho lined my threadbare purse while in Alexandria, asking usury, longsince due, but at the end of that time, I received his letter of asurety. So I made haste to open thy slandered missive, and greaterhaste to answer it by way of propitiation.
"I read much of thy letter with astonishment, some of it with rancor,some with congratulation. By Abraham's beard, it is almost as good tobe fortunate as it is to be single; wherefore in answer to thine onlyquestion, I say that I am neither. Thus, am I led up to comment on thefacts thou offerest me.
"I remember the little Lysimachus, a bit of Ephesian ivory-work, that Iaugured would go unmarried, seeing that she was so hindered withbrains. But naught so good as a dowry to offset the embarrassment ofsense in a woman. Prosper, my Classicus! For if thou art the sameelegant paganized son of Abraham thou wast in thine old days, thy debtsare as many as thy usurers are scarce. Half a million drachmae; demandno less a dowry than that, my Classicus!
"But here, below, thou writest that which hath cut my limbs from underme and set me heavily and helpless on the carpet! A manumitted slave,a cumbrous yokel of an Essene, hath given thee troublous nights,because the lady's eyes soften in his presence! Thou scented son ofDaphne; Athene's darling; Venus' latest joy! To let a Phidiancolossus, with a face high-colored like a comic mask, outstrip thee!
"Thou camest upon them once, the lady's hand in his! Again, shestammered under his look! And yet a third time, he wrapped a cloakabout her, and lingered getting his arm away! And all these thingsthou didst suffer and didst take no more revenge than to write thyplaint to me, eight hundred miles away!
"By the philippics of Jeremiah, thou deservest a wife with a figurelike a durra loaf, and dowered with nine sisters for thy support!
"Thou opinest in a lady-like way, that he is a Nazarene! Thou addest,with a flurry of spleen, that the proconsul of Egypt hateth him! Thouofferest a womanish suspicion that he fled from difficulty here inJudea! Now, any blind dolt could see substance in this for theoverthrow of a rival. Lackest thou courage, Classicus, or hast thoumoney enough to last thee till thou findest another lady?
"Is it not a sufficient cause against him that he is a Nazarene? Orperchance thou dost not know of them, which astonishes me more, sincePharaoh in the plagues was not more cumbered with flies than the earthis of Nazarenes. But read herein hope, then, against thy suspectedrival.
"These heretics are persistent offenders against law and order,rebellious and otherwise unruly. One Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus,proceedeth against them, for the Sanhedrim. Whether he is aninstrument of a political party or an immoderate zealot, is not for meto say; perchance he is both. At any rate he rages against theiniquity of the apostasy as a continuing whirlwind. He is not applyinghis methods locally, only. He reaches into neighboring provinces, andit is his oath to pursue the heresy unto the end of the world and bringback the last to judgment. Vitellius is assisting him in Judea, HerodAntipas in Galilee and Aretas in Syria. I expect hourly to hear thatCaesar hath lent him a strong arm, because the rebels are particularlyrabid against Rome.
"Of course, the members of the congregation are divided, but thouknowest that even a small number of zealous defenders of the faith canset a whole Synagogue by the ears. Even so tepid a Jew as I should notcare to rub shoulders with a Nazarene.
"Do I give thee life, O languid lover?
"Of thyself, I would hear more and oftener. Await not the rising of anew rival to write to me. Fear not; I shall not ask to borrow money ofthee--until thou hast wedded the Lysimachus.
"All thy friends in Jerusalem greet thee. Be happy and be fortunate.Thy friend,
"PHILIP OF JERUSALEM."
At this point Classicus composedly doubled the parchment, broke itlengthwise and cross-wise and clapped his hands for a slave. A Hebrewbondman appeared.
"This for the ovens," said Classicus, handing it to him.
When the servant disappeared, the philosopher descended into his houseand was dressed for a visit. An hour before the noon rest, he appearedin the garden of the alabarch.
There he found Lydia and Junia, Agrippa, Cypros, the alabarch andFlaccus, idly discussing the day's opening of the Feast of Flora. Hehad given and received greetings and merged his interests in thesubject, when Marsyas appeared in the colonnade. He had taken off thekerchief usually worn about the head, and carried it on his arm. As hepassed the spare old alabarch, the heavy purple proconsul and theexquisite Herod, not one of the guests there gathered but madesuccessive comparisons between him and the others. Junia gazed at himsteadily, under half-closed lids, but Lydia followed him with a look,half-sorrowful, half-happy, and wholly involuntary.
Cypros glanced at his flushed forehead and damp hair.
"Hast thou been into the city?" she asked with sweet solicitude.
"To the harbor-master," he answered, "I have been making ready thylord's ship."
Agrippa overheard the low answer, and turned upon him irritably.
"I have said that I do not depart until after the Feast of Flora," heremarked.
"The men of the sea do not expect fair winds before three days,"Marsyas replied, "wherefore we must abide until after the Feast."
"But my raiment is not prepared," Agrippa protested.
"Thou goest hence, my lord, to Rome, to be dressed by the masters ofthe science of raiment," Marsyas assured him.
Classicus raised his head and addressed to the Essene the first remarksince the memorable night of Marsyas' arrival in Alexandria.
"What a game it is," he opined amiably, "to see thee managing thisslippery Herod!"
Agrippa flushed angrily, but Marsyas did not await the retort.
"My brother's pardon," he said, "but the Herod has fine discriminationbetween cares becoming his exalted place,
and the labors of a steward."
Agrippa's face relaxed, but Classicus broke off the swinging end of avine that reached over his shoulder and slowly pulled it to pieces.
Junia sitting next to Marsyas turned to him.
"So thou wilt follow Flora?" she asked.
"No."
"Why?" she insisted, smiling. "Thou must go to Rome, where Flora runsevery day. Wilt thou turn thy back upon Egypt's joy and see onlyItaly's?"
"Is Rome so much worse than Alexandria?"
"Not worse; only more pronounced. There is more of Rome; the worldgets its impulse there. So much is done; so many are doing. And, bythe caprice of the Destinies, thou art to see Rome more than commonlyemployed."
"How?" he asked. By this time, the others were talking and the twospoke unheard together.
"Hist! I tell it under my breath, because the noble proconsul isburdened with the great responsibility of declaring the emperor'sdeathlessness, and I would not contradict him aloud. But Tiberius isold, old--and Rome casts about for his successor. But chance hath itthat interest hath uncoupled the two eyes so that the singleness ofsight is divided. 'Look right,' saith one; 'look left,' saith theother, and each looking his own way reviles his fellow and createsdisturbance in the head. But it behooves thee, gentle Jew, to bidthine eyes contemplate Tiberius, to do oriental obeisance and say asthe Persians say; 'O King, live for ever!"
"But yesterday, thou didst cast a kindly light over the world'shardness. Tear it not away thus soon and frighten me with the fiercepower against which I must shortly go and demand tribute," he protestedlightly.
She took down her arms, clasped back of her head, to look at him.
"Light-hearted eremite!" she chid. "Never a Jew but believed that allthe happenings in the world happen in Jerusalem--that there is nothingelse to come to pass after Jerusalem's full catalogue of possibilitiesis exhausted. But I tell thee that, compared to Rome, Jerusalem is anunwatered spot in the desert where once in a century a loping jackalpasses by to break its eventlessness."
"Lady," he said with his old gravity, "Judea is a Roman province. IsRome harsher to her citizens than she is with her subjugated peoples?"
"Thou art nearer the executive seat; under the eye of Power itself.Icarus, on his waxen wings, was unsafe enough in the daylight; but hewas undone by soaring too close to the sun!"
"What shall I do, then?" he asked.
"Attach thyself to a power; get behind the buckler of another'sstrength!"
"Power is not offering its protection for nothing; what have I to givein exchange for it?"
Almost inadvertently, she let her eyes run over him, and seemedimpelled to say the words that leaped to her lips. But she recoveredherself in time.
"It is a generous world," she said, "and such as thou shall not gofriendless; depend upon it!"
When Marsyas glanced up, his eyes rested on Lydia's, and for a momenthe was held in silence by the faint darkening of distress that he sawthere. Something wild and sweet and painful struggled in his breastand fell quiet so quickly that he sat with his lips parted and his gazefixed until the alabarch's daughter dropped her eyes.
"I heard thee speak of Rome," she said. "After thy labor is done, wiltthou remain there?"
"No," he answered slowly, "I return to En-Gadi."
"En-Gadi," Junia repeated. "Where is that and why shouldst thou gothere?"
"It is the city of the Essenes, a city of retreat. It is in the Judeandesert on the margin of the Dead Sea."
"After Rome, that!" Junia cried.
But Lydia said nothing and Marsyas, gazing at her in hope ofdiscovering some little deprecation, some little invitation to remainin the world, forgot that the Roman woman had spoken.
Classicus, who had been a quiet observer of the few words spokenbetween the Essene and the alabarch's daughter, drew himself up fromhis lounging attitude.
"To En-Gadi?" he repeated, attracting the attention of the others, whohad not failed to note his sudden interest in Marsyas. "Why?"
"I am an Essene fallen into misfortune; but once an Essene, an Essenealways," Marsyas answered.
"An Essene?" the philosopher observed. Then after a little silence hebegan again.
"In Alexandria, we live less rigorously than in Judea, even too littleso, we discover at times. Wherefore it is needful that we watch thatno further lapse is made, which will carry us into lawlessness."
"Ye are lax, yet wary that ye be not more lax?" Marsyas commentedperfunctorily.
"Even so. From Agrippa's lips, we learn that thou hast led aprecarious life of late; an eventful, even adventurous life: that thouhast been accused and hast escaped arrest. Thou wilt pardon myfamiliarity with thine own affairs."
"Go on," said Marsyas.
"In Alexandria--even in Alexandria, of late, the Jews have resolved notto entertain heretics--"
"In Alexandria, the extreme ye will risk in hospitality is one simplyaccused."
"I commend thy discernment. But we separate ourselves from theconvicted."
"So it is done in Judea. But continue."
Classicus waited for an expectant silence.
"Thou carryest about thee," he said, "an emblem which none but aNazarene owns."
Marsyas contemplated Classicus very calmly. He had been accused ofapostasy before, but by one whose every impulse had root in irrationalfanaticism. He had not expected this Romanized Jew to become zealousfor the faith; instead, he knew that Classicus would have pursued noneother for suspicion, but himself. Why?
He glanced at Lydia. Alarm and protest were written on every feature.Classicus saw that she was prepared to defend Marsyas and his facehardened. Then the Essene understood!
A flush of warm color swept over his face.
Without a word he put his hand into his robes and drew forth and laidupon his palm the little cedar crucifix.
Cypros uttered a little sound of fright; Agrippa whirled upon Marsyaswith frank amazement on his face. After a moment's intentcontemplation of the Essene's face, Junia settled back into her easyattitude and smiled.
Lydia sprang up; yet before the rush of precipitate speech reached herlips, there came, imperative and distinct, Marsyas' telepathic demandon her attention. Tender but commanding, his dark eyes rested upon her.
"Thou shall not betray thyself for me!" they said. "Thou shalt notbring sorrow to thy father's heart and disaster upon thy head! Thoushalt keep silence, and permit me to defend thee! I command thee; thoucanst do naught else but obey!"
She wavered, her cheeks suffused, and her eyes fell. When she liftedthem again, they were flashing with tears. A moment, and she slippedpast her guests into the house.
The alabarch broke the startled silence; he had turned almostwrathfully upon Classicus.
"It seems," he exclaimed, "that thou hast needlessly broadened thineinterests into matters which once did not concern thee!"
"Good my father," Classicus responded, "thou hast lost two sons alreadyto idolatry and false doctrines. And thy lovely daughter, thou seest,is no more secure from the seductions of an attractive apostasy thanwere they!"
"Well?" Marsyas asked quietly.
"It is not needful to point the man of discernment to his duty,"Classicus returned.
"Methinks," said Marsyas, rising, "that the sharp point of a pretexturges me out of Alexandria, as it did in Judea. Thou hast had noscruples," he continued, turning to Agrippa, "thus far in accepting thecompanionship of an accused man, so I do not expect to be cast off now."
"But," Agrippa protested, stammering in his surprise and perplexity,"acquit thyself, Marsyas. Thou art no Nazarene!"
"No charge so light to lift as this, my lord," Marsyas answered. "Yeteven for thy favor I will not do it!"
Agrippa looked doubtful, and the alabarch exclaimed with deep regret:
"What difficulty thou settest in the way of my debt to thee! Thou, towhom I owe my daughter's life!"
"Yet have a little faith in me," Marsyas said to him. "An
d for morethan I am given lief to recount, I am thy debtor!"
He put the crucifix into the folds of his garments.
"I am prepared to go to Rome, even now," he added to Agrippa.
"But--I would stay until after the Feast of Flora," the prince objectedstubbornly.
Cypros was breaking in, affrightedly, when Flaccus interrupted.
"Come! come!" he said, with a bluff assumption of good nature. "Thouart not banished from the city, young man! I am legate overAlexandria, and a conscienceless pagan, wherefore thou hast notoffended my gods nor done aught to deserve my disfavor. Get thee downto Rhacotis among thy friends--or thine enemies--till the Herod hathdiverted himself with Flora, and go thy way to Rome! What a tragedythou makest of nothing tragic!"
"O son of Mars," Marsyas said to himself, "I do not build on findingasylum there. Never a pitfall but is baited with invitation!"
But Cypros turned to the proconsul, her face glowing with thankfulnessunder her tears.
"Is it pleasing to thee, lady?" the proconsul asked jovially.
"Twice, thrice thou hast been my friend!" she cried.
"I shall go," said Marsyas. "Remember, my lord prince, these manythings which I and others suffer add to the certainty that thou shaltbe called to pay my debt against Saul of Tarsus, one day! Three dayshence, thou and I shall sail for Rome!"
He saluted the company and passed out of the garden.
"Perchance," said Flaccus dryly, with his peculiar aptitude forinsinuation, "an officer should conduct him to this nest of apostates."
"He will go, never fear!" Cypros declared, brushing away tears.
"By Ate! the boy is spectacular," Agrippa vowed suddenly. "He is noNazarene! I know how he came by that unholy amulet. It is a relic ofthat young heretic friend of his, whom they stoned in Jerusalem!"
But Junia found immense amusement in that surmise. Presently, shelaughed outright.
"O Classicus, what a blunderer thou art! Right or wrong, thou hastbrought down the ladies' wrath, not upon the comely Essene, but uponthine own head for abusing him!"