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.