Orion and Paula had had much to talk about, since the young man had
arrived. The discussion over the safe keeping of the girl’s money had
been tedious. Finally, her counsellors had decided to entrust half of
it to Gamaliel the jeweller and his brother, who carried on a large
business in Constantinople. He happened to be in Memphis, and they
had both declared themselves willing each to take half of the sum in
question and use it at interest. They would be equally responsible for
its security, so that each should make good the whole of the property
in their hands in case of the other stopping payment. Nilus undertook
to procure legal sanction and the necessary sixteen witnesses to this
transaction.
The other half of her fortune was, by the advice of Philippus, to be
placed in the hands of a brother of Haschim’s, the Arab merchant, who
had a large business as money changer in Fostat, the new town on
the further shore, in which the merchant himself was a partner. This
investment had the advantage of being perfectly safe, at any rate so
long as the Arabs ruled the land.
After all this was settled Nilus departed with that half of the money
which Orion was to hand over to the keeping of the Moslem money changer
on the following morning.
Paula, though she had taken no part in the men’s discussion, had
been present throughout, and had expressed her grateful consent. The
clearness, gravity, and decision which Orion had displayed had not
escaped her notice; and though the treasurer’s shrewd remarks, briefly
and modestly made, had in every case proved final, it was Orion’s
reasoning and explanations that had most come home to her, for it
seemed to her that he was always prompted by loftier, wider, and more
statesmanlike considerations than the others.
When this was over she and Orion were left together, and neither she
nor the young man had been able to escape a few moments of anxious
heart-beating.
It was not till the governor’s son had summoned up his courage and,
sinking on his knees, was imploring her pardon, that she recovered some
firmness and reminded him of the letter he had sent her. But her heart
drew her to him almost irresistibly, and in order not to yield to its
urgent prompts, she hastily enquired what he had meant by the exchange
he had written about.
At this he went up to her with downcast eyes, drew a small box out
of the breast of his robe, and took out the emerald with the damaged
setting. He held them towards her with a beseeching gesture, exclaiming,
with all the peculiar sweetness of his deep voice:
“It is your property! Take it and give me in return your confidence,
your forgiveness.”
She drew back a little, looking first at him and then at the stone and
its setting--surprised, pleased, and deeply moved, with a bright light
in her eyes. The young man found it impossible to utter a single word,
only holding the jewel and the broken setting closer to her, and yet
closer, like some poor man who makes bold to offer the best he has to a
wealthy superior, though conscious that it is all too humble a gift to
find favor.
And Paula was not long undecided; she took the proffered gem and feasted
her glistening eyes with glad thankfulness on her recovered treasure.
Two days ago she had thought of it as defiled and desecrated; it had
gratified her pride to fancy that she had cast the precious jewel at the
feet, as it were, of Neforis and her son, never to see it again. So hard
is it to forego the right of hating those who have basely brought grief
into our lives and anguish to our souls!--and yet Paula, who would not
have yielded this right at any price a short time since, now waived
it of her own free will--nay, thrust it from her like some tormenting
incubus which choked her pulses and kept her from breathing freely. In
this gem she saw once more a cherished memorial of her lost mother, the
honorable gift of a great monarch to her forefathers; and she was happy
to possess it once more. But it was not this that gave life to the warm,
sunny glow of happiness which thrilled through her, or occasioned its
quick and delightful growth; for her eye did not linger on the large and
glittering stone, but rested spellbound on the poor gold frame which had
once held it, and which had cost her such hours of anguish. This broken
and worthless thing, it is true, was powerful to justify her in the
opinions of her judges and her enemies; with this in her hand she would
easily confute her accusers. Still, it was not that which so greatly
consoled her. The physician’s remark, that there was no greater joy than
the discovery that we have been deceived in thinking ill of another,
recurred to her mind; and she had once loved the man who now stood
before her open to every good influence, deeply moved in her presence;
and her judgment of him had been a hundred, a thousand times too hard.
Only a noble soul could confidently expect magnanimity from a foe and
he, he had put himself defenceless into the power of her who had been
mortally stricken by the most fateful, and perhaps the only disgraceful
act of his life. In giving up this gold frame Orion also gave himself
up; with this talisman in her possession she stood before him as
irresistible Fate. And now, as she looked up at him and met his large
eyes, full of life and intellect but sparkling through tears of violent
agitation, she felt absolutely certain that this favorite of Fortune,
though he had indeed sinned deeply and disastrously, was capable of
the highest and greatest aims if he had a friend to show him what life
required of him and were but ready to follow such guidance. And such a
friend she would be to him!
She, like Orion, could not for some time speak; but he, at last, was
unable to contain himself; he hastened towards her and pressed her hand
to his lips with fervent gratitude, while she--she had to submit; nay,
she would have been incapable of resisting him if, as in her dream, he
had clasped her in his arms, to his heart. His burning lips had rested
fervently on her hand, but it was only for an instant that she abandoned
herself to the violent agitation that mastered her. Then with a great
effort her instinct and determination to do right enabled her to control
it; she pushed him from her decisively but not ungently, and then, with
some emotion and an arch sweetness which he had never before seen in
her, and which charmed him even more than her noble and lofty pride, she
said, threatening him with her finger.
“Take care, Orion! Now I have the stone and the setting; yes, that very
setting. Beware of the consequences, rash man!”
“Not at all. Say rather: Fool, who at last has succeeded in doing
something rational,” he replied joyfully. “What I have brought you is
not a gift; it is your own. To you it can be neither more nor less than
it was before; but to me it has gained inestimably in value since it
places my honor, perhaps my life even, in your keeping; I am in your
power as completely as the humblest slave in the palace is in that of
the Emperor. Keep the gem, and use it and this fateful gold trifle till
the day shall come when my weal and woe are one with yours.”
“For your dead father’s sake,” she answered, coloring deeply, “your weal
lies already very near my heart. Am not I, who brought upon you your
father’s curse, bound indeed to help you to free yourself from the
burden of it? And it may perhaps be in my power to do so, Orion, if you
do not scorn to listen to the counsels of an ignorant girl?”
“Speak,” he cried; but she did not reply immediately. She only begged
him to come into the garden with her; the close atmosphere of the room
had become intolerable to both, and when they got out and Katharina
had first caught sight of them their flushed cheeks had not escaped her
watchful eye.
In the open air, a scarcely perceptible breath from the river moderated
the noontide heat, and then Paula found courage to tell him what
Philippus had called his apprehension in life. It was not new to him;
indeed it fully answered to the principles he had laid down for the
future. He accepted it gratefully: “Life is a function, a ministry, a
duty!” the words were a motto, a precept that should aid him in carrying
out his plans.
“And the device,” he exclaimed, “will be doubly precious to me as having
come from your lips.--But I no longer need its warning. The wisest and
most practical axioms of conduct never made any man the better. Who does
not bring a stock of them with him when he quits school for the world
at large? Precepts are of no use unless, in the voyage of life, a manly
will holds the rudder. I have called on mine, and it will steer me to
the goal, for a bright guiding star lights the pilot on his way. You
know that star; it is....”
“It is what you call your love,” she interposed, with a deep
blush.--“Your love for me, and I will trust it.”
“You will!” he cried passionately. “You allow me to hope....”
“Yes, yes, hope!” she again broke in, “but meanwhile....”
“Meanwhile,” he said, “‘do not press me further,’ ought to end your
sentence. Oh! I quite understand you; and until I feel that you have
good reason once more to respect the maniac who lost you by his own
fault, I, who fought you like your most deadly foe, will not even speak
the final word. I will silence my longing, I will try....”
“You will try to show me--nay, you will show me--that in you, my foe and
persecutor, I have gained my dearest friend!--And now to quite another
matter. We know how we stand towards each other and can count on each
other with glad and perfect confidence, thanking the Almighty for having
opened out a new life to us. To Him we will this day....”
“Offer praise and thanksgiving,” Orion joyfully put in.
And here began the conversation relating to little Mary which Katharina
had overheard.
They had gone out of hearing again when Orion explained to Paula that
all arrangements for the little girl must be postponed till the morrow,
as he had business now with Amru, on the other shore of the Nile.
He decisively confuted her fears lest he should allow himself to be
perverted by the Moslems to their faith; for though he ardently desired
to let the Patriarch feel that he had no mind to submit patiently to the
affront to his deceased father, he clung too firmly to his creed, and
knew too well what was due to the memory of the dead, and to Paula
herself, ever to take this extreme step. He spoke in glowing terms as he
described how, for the future, he purposed to devote his best powers to
his hapless and oppressed country, whether it were in the service of the
Khaliff or in some other way; and she eagerly entered into his schemes,
quite carried away by his noble enthusiasm, and acknowledging to
herself with silent rapture the superiority of his mind and the soaring
loftiness of his soul.
When, presently, they began talking again of the past she asked him
quite frankly, but in a low voice and without looking up, what had
become of the emerald he had taken from the Persian hanging. He turned
pale at this, looked at the ground, and hesitatingly replied that he had
sent it to Constantinople--“to have it set--set in an ornament--worthy
of her whom--whom he....”
But here he broke off, stamped angrily with his foot, and looking
straight into the girl’s eyes exclaimed:
“A pack of lies, foul and unworthy lies!--I have been truthful by nature
all my life; but does it not seem as though that accursed day forced me
to some base action every time it is even mentioned? Yes, Paula; the gem
is really on its way to Byzantium. But the stolen gift was never meant
for you, but for a fair, gentle creature, in nothing blameworthy, who
gave me her heart. To me she was never anything but a pretty plaything;
still, there were moments when I believed--poor soul!--I first learnt
what love meant through you, how great and how sacred it is!--Now you
know all; this, indeed, is the truth!”
They walked on again, and Katharina, who had not been able to gather
the whole of this explanation, could plainly hear Paula’s reply in warm,
glad accents:
“Yes, that is the truth, I feel. And henceforth that horrible day is
blotted out, erased from your life and mine; and whatever you tell me in
the future I shall believe.”
And the listener heard the young man answer in a tremulous voice:
“And you shall never be deceived in me. Now I must leave you; and I go,
in spite of my griefs, a happy man, entitled to rejoice anew. O Paula,
what do I not owe to you! And when we next meet you will receive me,
will you not, as you did that evening on the river after my return?”
“Yes, indeed; and with even more glad confidence,” replied Paula,
holding out her hand with a lovely graciousness that came from her
heart; he pressed it a moment to his lips, and then sprang on to his
horse and rode off at a round trot, his slave following him.
“Katharina, child, Katharina!” was shouted from Susannah’s house in
a woman’s high-pitched voice. The water-wagtail started up, hastily
smoothing her hair and casting an evil glance at her rival, “the other,”
the supplanter who had basely betrayed her under the sycamores; she
clenched her little fist as she saw Paula watching Orion’s retreating
form with beaming eyes. Paula went back into the house, happy and
walking on air, while the other poor, deeply-wounded child burst into
violent weeping at the first hasty words from her mother, who was not at
all satisfied with the disorder of her dress; and she ended by declaring
with defiant audacity that she would not present the flowers to the
patriarch, and would remain in her own room, for she was dying of
headache.--And so she did.