CHAPTER VI
Ben-Hur alighted at the gate of the khan from which the threeWise Men more than thirty years before departed, going downto Bethlehem. There, in keeping of his Arab followers, he leftthe horse, and shortly after was at the wicket of his father'shouse, and in a yet briefer space in the great chamber. He calledfor Malluch first; that worthy being out, he sent a salutation tohis friends the merchant and the Egyptian. They were being carriedabroad to see the celebration. The latter, he was informed, was veryfeeble, and in a state of deep dejection.
Young people of that time who were supposed hardly to know theirown hearts indulged the habit of politic indirection quite as muchas young people in the same condition indulge it in this time;so when Ben-Hur inquired for the good Balthasar, and with gravecourtesy desired to know if he would be pleased to see him, he reallyaddressed the daughter a notice of his arrival. While the servant wasanswering for the elder, the curtain of the doorway was drawn aside,and the younger Egyptian came in, and walked--or floated, upborne ina white cloud of the gauzy raiment she so loved and lived in--tothe centre of the chamber, where the light cast by lamps from theseven-armed brazen stick planted upon the floor was the strongest.With her there was no fear of light.
The servant left the two alone.
In the excitement occasioned by the events of the few days pastBen-Hur had scarcely given a thought to the fair Egyptian. If shecame to his mind at all, it was merely as a briefest pleasure, asuggestion of a delight which could wait for him, and was waiting.
But now the influence of the woman revived with all its force theinstant Ben-Hur beheld her. He advanced to her eagerly, but stoppedand gazed. Such a change he had never seen!
Theretofore she had been a lover studious to win him--in mannerall warmth, each glance an admission, each action an avowal. Shehad showered him with incense of flattery. While he was present,she had impressed him with her admiration; going away, he carriedthe impression with him to remain a delicious expectancy hasteninghis return. It was for him the painted eyelids drooped lowest overthe lustrous almond eyes; for him the love-stories caught from theprofessionals abounding in the streets of Alexandria were repeatedwith emphasis and lavishment of poetry; for him endless exclamationsof sympathy, and smiles, and little privileges with hand and hairand cheek and lips, and songs of the Nile, and displays of jewelry,and subtleties of lace in veils and scarfs, and other subtletiesnot less exquisite in flosses of Indian silk. The idea, old as theoldest of peoples, that beauty is the reward of the hero had neversuch realism as she contrived for his pleasure; insomuch that hecould not doubt he was her hero; she avouched it in a thousandartful ways as natural with her as her beauty--winsome waysreserved, it would seem, by the passionate genius of old Egyptfor its daughters.
Such the Egyptian had been to Ben-Hur from the night of the boat-rideon the lake in the Orchard of Palms. But now!
Elsewhere in this volume the reader may have observed a term ofsomewhat indefinite meaning used reverently in a sacred connection;we repeat it now with a general application. There are few personswho have not a double nature, the real and the acquired; the lattera kind of addendum resulting from education, which in time oftenperfects it into a part of the being as unquestionable as the first.Leaving the thought to the thoughtful, we proceed to say that nowthe real nature of the Egyptian made itself manifest.
It was not possible for her to have received a stranger withrepulsion more incisive; yet she was apparently as passionless asa statue, only the small head was a little tilted, the nostrilsa little drawn, and the sensuous lower lip pushed the upper theleast bit out of its natural curvature.
She was the first to speak.
"Your coming is timely, O son of Hur," she said, in a voice sharplydistinct. "I wish to thank you for hospitality; after to-morrow Imay not have the opportunity to do so."
Ben-Hur bowed slightly without taking his eyes from her.
"I have heard of a custom which the dice-players observe with goodresult among themselves," she continued. "When the game is over,they refer to their tablets and cast up their accounts; then theylibate the gods and put a crown upon the happy winner. We have hada game--it has lasted through many days and nights. Why, now thatit is at an end, shall not we see to which the chaplet belongs?"
Yet very watchful, Ben-Hur answered, lightly, "A man may not balka woman bent on having her way."
"Tell me," she continued, inclining her head, and permitting thesneer to become positive--"tell me, O prince of Jerusalem, where ishe, that son of the carpenter of Nazareth, and son not less of God,from whom so lately such mighty things were expected?"
He waved his hand impatiently, and replied, "I am not his keeper."
The beautiful head sank forward yet lower.
"Has he broken Rome to pieces?"
Again, but with anger, Ben-Hur raised his hand in deprecation.
"Where has he seated his capital?" she proceeded. "Cannot I gosee his throne and its lions of bronze? And his palace--he raisedthe dead; and to such a one, what is it to raise a golden house?He has but to stamp his foot and say the word, and the house is,pillared like Karnak, and wanting nothing."
There was by this time slight ground left to believe her playing;the questions were offensive, and her manner pointed with unfriendliness;seeing which, he on his side became more wary, and said, with good humor,"O Egypt, let us wait another day, even another week, for him, the lions,and the palace."
She went on without noticing the suggestion.
"And how is it I see you in that garb? Such is not the habit ofgovernors in India or vice-kings elsewhere. I saw the satrap ofTeheran once, and he wore a turban of silk and a cloak of clothof gold, and the hilt and scabbard of his sword made me dizzywith their splendor of precious stones. I thought Osiris hadlent him a glory from the sun. I fear you have not entered uponyour kingdom--the kingdom I was to share with you."
"The daughter of my wise guest is kinder than she imagines herself;she is teaching me that Isis may kiss a heart without making itbetter."
Ben-Hur spoke with cold courtesy, and Iras, after playing with thependent solitaire of her necklace of coins, rejoined, "For a Jew,the son of Hur is clever. I saw your dreaming Caesar make his entryinto Jerusalem. You told us he would that day proclaim himself Kingof the Jews from the steps of the Temple. I beheld the processiondescend the mountain bringing him. I heard their singing. They werebeautiful with palms in motion. I looked everywhere among them fora figure with a promise of royalty--a horseman in purple, a chariotwith a driver in shining brass, a stately warrior behind an orbedshield, rivalling his spear in stature. I looked for his guard.It would have been pleasant to have seen a prince of Jerusalemand a cohort of the legions of Galilee."
She flung her listener a glance of provoking disdain, then laughedheartily, as if the ludicrousness of the picture in her mind weretoo strong for contempt.
"Instead of a Sesostris returning in triumph or a Caesar helmedand sworded--ha, ha, ha!--I saw a man with a woman's face andhair, riding an ass's colt, and in tears. The King! the Son ofGod! the Redeemer of the world! Ha, ha, ha!"
In spite of himself, Ben-Hur winced.
"I did not quit my place, O prince of Jerusalem," she said, before hecould recover. "I did not laugh. I said to myself, 'Wait. In theTemple he will glorify himself as becomes a hero about to takepossession of the world.' I saw him enter the Gate of Shushanand the Court of the Women. I saw him stop and stand before theGate Beautiful. There were people with me on the porch and in thecourts, and on the cloisters and on the steps of the three sides ofthe Temple there were other people--I will say a million of people,all waiting breathlessly to hear his proclamation. The pillars werenot more still than we. Ha, ha, ha! I fancied I heard the axles ofthe mighty Roman machine begin to crack. Ha, ha, ha! O prince, by thesoul of Solomon, your King of the World drew his gown about him andwalked away, and out by the farthest gate, nor opened his mouth tosay a word; and--the Roman machine is running yet!"
In simple homage
to a hope that instant lost--a hope which, as itbegan to fall and while it was falling, he unconsciously followedwith a parting look down to its disappearance--Ben-Hur loweredhis eyes.
At no previous time, whether when Balthasar was plying him witharguments, or when miracles were being done before his face,had the disputed nature of the Nazarene been so plainly setbefore him. The best way, after all, to reach an understandingof the divine is by study of the human. In the things superior tomen we may always look to find God. So with the picture given bythe Egyptian of the scene when the Nazarene turned from the GateBeautiful; its central theme was an act utterly beyond performanceby a man under control of merely human inspirations. A parable toa parable-loving people, it taught what the Christ had so oftenasserted--that his mission was not political. There was not muchmore time for thought of all this than that allowed for a commonrespiration; yet the idea took fast hold of Ben-Hur, and in the sameinstant he followed his hope of vengeance out of sight, and the manwith the woman's face and hair, and in tears, came near to him--nearenough to leave something of his spirit behind.
"Daughter of Balthasar," he said, with dignity, "if this be thegame of which you spoke to me, take the chaplet--I accord ityours. Only let us make an end of words. That you have a purposeI am sure. To it, I pray, and I will answer you; then let us goour several ways, and forget we ever met. Say on; I will listen,but not to more of that which you have given me."
She regarded him intently a moment, as if determining what todo--possibly she might have been measuring his will--then shesaid, coldly, "You have my leave--go."
"Peace to you," he responded, and walked away.
As he was about passing out of the door, she called to him.
"A word."
He stopped where he was, and looked back.
"Consider all I know about you."
"O most fair Egyptian," he said, returning, "what all do you knowabout me?"
She looked at him absently.
"You are more of a Roman, son of Hur, then any of your Hebrewbrethren."
"Am I so unlike my countrymen?" he asked, indifferently.
"The demi-gods are all Roman now," she rejoined.
"And therefore you will tell me what more you know about me?"
"The likeness is not lost upon me. It might induce me to save you."
"Save me!"
The pink-stained fingers toyed daintily with the lustrous pendantat the throat, and her voice was exceeding low and soft; only atapping on the floor with her silken sandal admonished him tohave a care.
"There was a Jew, an escaped galley-slave, who killed a man inthe Palace of Idernee," she began, slowly.
Ben-Hur was startled.
"The same Jew slew a Roman soldier before the Market-place herein Jerusalem; the same Jew has three trained legions from Galileeto seize the Roman governor to-night; the same Jew has alliancesperfected for war upon Rome, and Ilderim the Sheik is one of hispartners."
Drawing nearer him, she almost whispered,
"You have lived in Rome. Suppose these things repeated in ears weknow of. Ah! you change color."
He drew back from her with somewhat of the look which may beimagined upon the face of a man who, thinking to play with akitten, has run upon a tiger; and she proceeded:
"You are acquainted in the antechamber, and know the Lord Sejanus.Suppose it were told him with the proofs in hand--or without theproofs--that the same Jew is the richest man in the East--nay,in all the empire. The fishes of the Tiber would have fatteningother than that they dig out of its ooze, would they not? Andwhile they were feeding--ha! son of Hur!--what splendor therewould be on exhibition in the Circus! Amusing the Roman peopleis a fine art; getting the money to keep them amused is anotherart even finer; and was there ever an artist the equal of theLord Sejanus?"
Ben-Hur was not too much stirred by the evident baseness of thewoman for recollection. Not unfrequently when all the otherfaculties are numb and failing memory does its offices withthe greatest fidelity. The scene at the spring on the way to theJordan reproduced itself; and he remembered thinking then thatEsther had betrayed him, and thinking so now, he said calmly ashe could,
"To give you pleasure, daughter of Egypt, I acknowledge yourcunning, and that I am at your mercy. It may also please you tohear me acknowledge I have no hope of your favor. I could kill you,but you are a woman. The Desert is open to receive me; and thoughRome is a good hunter of men, there she would follow long and farbefore she caught me, for in its heart there are wildernesses ofspears as well as wildernesses of sand, and it is not unlovelyto the unconquered Parthian. In the toils as I am--dupe that Ihave been--yet there is one thing my due: who told you all youknow about me? In flight or captivity, dying even, there willbe consolation in leaving the traitor the curse of a man who haslived knowing nothing but wretchedness. Who told you all you knowabout me?"
It might have been a touch of art, or might have been sincere--thatas it may--the expression of the Egyptian's face became sympathetic.
"There are in my country, O son of Hur," she said, presently,"workmen who make pictures by gathering vari-colored shellshere and there on the sea-shore after storms, and cuttingthem up, and patching the pieces as inlaying on marble slabs.Can you not see the hint there is in the practice to such as gosearching for secrets? Enough that from this person I gathered ahandful of little circumstances, and from that other yet anotherhandful, and that afterwhile I put them together, and was happy asa woman can be who has at disposal the fortune and life of a manwhom"--she stopped, and beat the floor with her foot, and lookedaway as if to hide a sudden emotion from him; with an air of evenpainful resolution she presently finished the sentence--"whom sheis at loss what to do with."
"No, it is not enough," Ben-Hur said, unmoved by the play--"itis not enough. To-morrow you will determine what to do with me.I may die."
"True," she rejoined quickly and with emphasis, "I had somethingfrom Sheik Ilderim as he lay with my father in a grove out inthe Desert. The night was still, very still, and the walls of thetent, sooth to say, were poor ward against ears outside listeningto--birds and beetles flying through the air."
She smiled at the conceit, but proceeded:
"Some other things--bits of shell for the picture--I had from--"
"Whom?"
"The son of Hur himself."
"Was there no other who contributed?"
"No, not one."
Hur drew a breath of relief, and said, lightly, "Thanks. It werenot well to keep the Lord Sejanus waiting for you. The Desert isnot so sensitive. Again, O Egypt, peace!"
To this time he had been standing uncovered; now he took thehandkerchief from his arm where it had been hanging, and adjustingit upon his head, turned to depart. But she arrested him; in hereagerness, she even reached a hand to him.
"Stay," she said.
He looked back at her, but without taking the hand, though itwas very noticeable for its sparkling of jewels; and he knewby her manner that the reserved point of the scene which wasso surprising to him was now to come.
"Stay, and do not distrust me, O son of Hur, if I declare I knowwhy the noble Arrius took you for his heir. And, by Isis! by allthe gods of Egypt! I swear I tremble to think of you, so brave andgenerous, under the hand of the remorseless minister. You have lefta portion of your youth in the atria of the great capital; consider,as I do, what the Desert will be to you in contrast of life. Oh,I give you pity--pity! And if you but do what I say, I will saveyou. That, also, I swear, by our holy Isis!"
Words of entreaty and prayer these, poured forth volubly and withearnestness and the mighty sanction of beauty.
"Almost--almost I believe you," Ben-Hur said, yet hesitatingly,and in a voice low and indistinct; for a doubt remained withhim grumbling against the yielding tendency of the man--a goodsturdy doubt, such a one as has saved many a life and fortune.
"The perfect life for a woman is to live in love; the greatesthappiness for a man is the conquest of himself; and that, O prince,is what I hav
e to ask of you."
She spoke rapidly, and with animation; indeed, she had neverappeared to him so fascinating.
"You had once a friend," she continued. "It was in your boyhood.There was a quarrel, and you and he became enemies. He did youwrong. After many years you met him again in the Circus at Antioch."
"Messala!"
"Yes, Messala. You are his creditor. Forgive the past; admit himto friendship again; restore the fortune he lost in the greatwager; rescue him. The six talents are as nothing to you; not somuch as a bud lost upon a tree already in full leaf; but to him-- Ah,he must go about with a broken body; wherever you meet him hemust look up to you from the ground. O Ben-Hur, noble prince! toa Roman descended as he is beggary is the other most odious namefor death. Save him from beggary!"
If the rapidity with which she spoke was a cunning inventionto keep him from thinking, either she never knew or else hadforgotten that there are convictions which derive nothing fromthought, but drop into place without leave or notice. It seemedto him, when at last she paused to have his answer, that he couldsee Messala himself peering at him over her shoulder; and in itsexpression the countenance of the Roman was not that of a mendicantor a friend; the sneer was as patrician as ever, and the fine edgeof the hauteur as flawless and irritating.
"The appeal has been decided then, and for once a Messala takesnothing. I must go and write it in my book of great occurrences--ajudgment by a Roman against a Roman! But did he--did Messala sendyou to me with this request, O Egypt?"
"He has a noble nature, and judged you by it."
Ben-Hur took the hand upon arm.
"As you know him in such friendly way, fair Egyptian, tell me,would he do for me, there being a reversal of the conditions,that he asks of me? Answer, by Isis! Answer, for the truth'ssake!"
There was insistence in the touch of his hand, and in his look also.
"Oh!" she began, "he is--"
"A Roman, you were about to say; meaning that I, a Jew, must notdetermine dues from me to him by any measure of dues from himto me; being a Jew, I must forgive him my winnings because heis a Roman. If you have more to tell me, daughter of Balthasar,speak quickly, quickly; for by the Lord God of Israel, when thisheat of blood, hotter waxing, attains its highest, I may not beable longer to see that you are a woman, and beautiful! I maysee but the spy of a master the more hateful because the masteris a Roman. Say on, and quickly."
She threw his hand off and stepped back into the full light,with all the evil of her nature collected in her eyes and voice.
"Thou drinker of lees, feeder upon husks! To think I could lovethee, having seen Messala! Such as thou were born to serve him.He would have been satisfied with release of the six talents;but I say to the six thou shalt add twenty--twenty, dost thouhear? The kissings of my little finger which thou hast takenfrom him, though with my consent, shall be paid for; and that Ihave followed thee with affection of sympathy, and endured theeso long, enter into the account not less because I was servinghim. The merchant here is thy keeper of moneys. If by to-morrowat noon he has not thy order acted upon in favor of my Messalafor six-and-twenty talents--mark the sum!--thou shalt settle withthe Lord Sejanus. Be wise and--farewell."
As she was going to the door, he put himself in her way.
"The old Egypt lives in you," he said. "Whether you see Messalato-morrow or the next day, here or in Rome, give him this message.Tell him I have back the money, even the six talents, he robbed meof by robbing my father's estate; tell him I survived the galleysto which he had me sent, and in my strength rejoice in his beggaryand dishonor; tell him I think the affliction of body which he hasfrom my hand is the curse of our Lord God of Israel upon him morefit than death for his crimes against the helpless; tell him mymother and sister whom he had sent to a cell in Antonia that theymight die of leprosy, are alive and well, thanks to the power ofthe Nazarene whom you so despise; tell him that, to fill my measureof happiness, they are restored to me, and that I will go hence totheir love, and find in it more than compensation for the impurepassions which you leave me to take to him; tell him--this foryour comfort, O cunning incarnate, as much as his--tell him thatwhen the Lord Sejanus comes to despoil me he will find nothing;for the inheritance I had from the duumvir, including the villaby Misenum, has been sold, and the money from the sale is outof reach, afloat in the marts of the world as bills of exchange;and that this house and the goods and merchandise and the ships andcaravans with which Simonides plies his commerce with such princelyprofits are covered by imperial safeguards--a wise head having foundthe price of the favor, and the Lord Sejanus preferring a reasonablegain in the way of gift to much gain fished from pools of bloodand wrong; tell him if all this were not so, if the money andproperty were all mine, yet should he not have the least partof it, for when he finds our Jewish bills, and forces them togive up their values, there is yet another resort left me--adeed of gift to Caesar--so much, O Egypt, I found out in theatria of the great capital; tell him that along with my defianceI do not send him a curse in words, but, as a better expression ofmy undying hate, I send him one who will prove to him the sum ofall curses; and when he looks at you repeating this my message,daughter of Balthasar, his Roman shrewdness will tell him all Imean. Go now--and I will go."
He conducted her to the door, and, with ceremonious politeness,held back the curtain while she passed out.
"Peace to you," he said, as she disappeared.