When Orion reached home, wounded to the quick, he flung himself on a
divan. Paula had said that her heart was his indeed, but what a cool and
grudging love was this that would give nothing till it had insured its
future. And how could Paula have allowed a third person to come between
them, and rule her feelings and actions? She must have revealed to that
third person all that had previously passed between them--and it was for
this Melchite nun, his personal foe, that he was about to--it was enough
to drive him mad!--But he could not withdraw; he had pledged himself to
the brave old man to carry out this crazy enterprise. And in the place
of the lofty, noble mistress of his whole being, his fancy pictured Paula
as a tearful, vacillating, and cold-hearted woman.
There lay the maps and plans which he had desired Nilus to send in from
his room for his study of the task set him by Amru; as his eye fell upon
them, he struck his fist against the wall, started up, and ran like a
madman up and down the room which had been sacred to her peaceful life.
There stood her lute; he had freshly strung and tuned it. To calm
himself he drew it to him, took up the plectrum, and began to play. But
it was a poor instrument; she had been content with this wretched thing!
He flung it on the couch and took up his own, the gift of Heliodora. How
sweetly, how delightfully she had been wont to play it! Even now its
strings gave forth a glorious tone; by degrees he began to rejoice in his
own playing, and music soothed his excitement, as it had often done
before. It was grand and touching, though he several times struck the
strings so violently that their loud clanging and sighing and throbbing
answered each other like the wild wailing of a soul in torment.
Under this vehement usage the bridge of the lute suddenly snapped off
with a dull report; and at the same instant his secretary, who had been
with him at Constantinople, threw open the door in glad excitement, and
began, even before he had crossed the threshold:
"Only think, my lord! Here is a messenger come from the inn kept by
Sostratus with this tablet for you.--It is open, so I read it. Only
think! it is hardly credible! The Senator Justinus is here with his
wife, the noble Martina--here in Memphis, and they beg you to visit them
at once to speak of matters of importance. They came last night, the
messenger tells me, and now--what joy! Think of all the hospitality you
enjoyed in their house. Can we leave them in an inn? So long as
hospitality endures, it would be a crime!"
"Impossible, quite impossible!" cried Orion, who had cast aside the
lute, and was now reading the letter himself. "It is true indeed!
his own handwriting. And that immovable pair are in Egypt--in Memphis!
By Zeus!"--for this was still the favorite oath of the golden youth of
Alexandria and Constantinople, even in these Christian times.--"By Zeus,
I ought to receive them here like princes!--Wait!--of course you must
tell the messenger that I am coming at once--have the four new Pannonians
harnessed to the silver-plated chariot. I must go to my mother; but
there is time enough for that. Desire Sebek to have the guest-chambers
prepared for distinguished guests--those sick people are out of them,
thank God! Take my present room for them too; I will go back to the old
one. Of course they have a numerous suite. Set twenty or thirty slaves
to work. Everything must be ready in two hours at furthest. The two
sitting-rooms are particularly handsome, but where anything is lacking,
place everything in the house at Sebek's command.--Justinus in Egypt!--
But make haste, man! Nay, stay! One thing more. Carry these maps and
scrolls--no; they are too heavy for you. Desire a slave to fetch them,
and take them to Rufinus; he must keep them till I come. Tell him I
meant to use them on the way--he knows."
The secretary rushed off; Orion performed a rapid toilet and had his
mourning dress rearranged in fresh folds; then he went to his mother.
She had often heard of the cordial reception that her son, and her
husband, too, in former days, had met with in the senator's house, and
she took it quite as a matter of course that the strangers' rooms, and
among them that which had been Paula's, should be prepared for the
travellers; all she asked was that it should be explained that she was
suffering, so that she might not have to trouble herself to entertain
them.
She advised Orion to put off his journey and to devote himself to his
friends; but he explained that even their arrival must not delay him.
He had entire confidence in Sebek and the upper housekeeper, and the
emperor himself would remit the duties of hostess to a sick woman. Once,
at any rate, she would surely allow the illustrious guests to pay their
respects to her,--but even this Neforis refused It would be quite enough
if her visitors received messages and greetings daily in her name, with
offerings of choice fruit and flowers, and on the last day some costly
gift. Orion thought this proposal quite worthy of them both, and
presently drove off behind his Pannonians to the hostelry.
By the harbor he met the captain of the boat he had hired; to him he held
up two fingers, and the boatman signified by repeated nodding that he had
understood the meaning of this signal: "Be ready at two hours before
midnight."
The sight of this weather-beaten pilot, and the prospect of making some
return to his noble friends for all their kindness, cheered Orion
greatly; and though he regretted being obliged to leave these guests of
all others, the perils that lay before him reasserted their charm. He
could surely win over the abbess in the course of the voyage, and Paula
might be brought to reason, perhaps, this very evening. Justinus and his
wife were Melchites, and he knew that both these friends--for whom he had
a particular regard--would be enchanted with his scheme if he took them
into his confidence.
The inn kept by Sostratus, a large, square building surrounding a
spacious court-yard, was the best and most frequented in the town. The
eastern side faced the road and the river, and contained the best rooms,
in which, on the previous night, the senator had established himself with
his wife and servants. The clatter of the quadriga drew Justinus to the
window; as soon as he recognized Orion he waved a table-napkin to him,
shouting a hearty "Welcome!" and then retired into the room again.
"Here he is!" he cried to his wife, who was lying on a couch in the
lightest permissible attire, and sipping fruit-syrup from time to time
to moisten her dry lips, while a boy fanned her for coolness.
"That is well indeed!" she exclaimed, and desired her maid to be quick,
very quick, and fetch her a wrap, but to be sure it was a thin one.
Then, turning to a very lovely young woman who had started to her feet
at Justinus' first exclamation, she asked:
"Would you rather that he should find you here, my darling, or shall we
see him first, and tell him that we have brought you with us?"
"That will be best," answered the other in a sweet voice, and she sighed
softly before she added: "What will he not think of me? We may grow
older, but folly--folly. . ."
"Grows with years?" laughed the matron. "Or do you think it decreases?
--But here he is."
The younger woman hurried away by a side door, behind which she
disappeared. Martina looked after her, and pointing that way to direct
her husband's glance, she observed: "She has left herself a chink. Good
God! Fancy being in love in such heat as this; what a hideous thought!"
At this moment the door was opened, and the heartiest greetings ensued.
It was evident that the meeting was as great a pleasure to the elderly
pair as to the young man. Justinus embraced him warmly, while the matron
cried out: "And a kiss for me too!" And when the youth immediately and
heartily gave it, she exclaimed with a groan:
"O man, and child of man, great Sesostris! How did your famous ancestor
ever achieve heroic deeds under such a sun as this? For my part I am
fast disappearing, melting away like butter; but what will a man not do
for love's sake?--Syra, Syra; for God's sake bring me something, however
small, that looks like a garment! How rational is the fashion of the
people of Africa whom we met with on our journey. If they have three
fingers' breadth of cloth about them, they consider themselves elegantly
dressed.--But come, sit down--there, at my feet. A seat, Argos, and some
wine, and water in a damp clay pitcher, and cool like the last. Husband,
the boy seems to me handsomer than ever. But dear God! he is in
mourning, and how becoming it is! Poor boy, poor boy! Yes, we heard in
Alexandria."
She wiped first her eyes and then her damp brow, and her husband added
his expressions of sympathy at the death of the Mukaukas.
They were a genial and comfortable couple, Justinus and his wife Martina.
Two beings who felt perfectly secure in their vast inherited wealth, and
who, both being of noble birth, never need make any display of dignity,
because they were sure of it in the eyes of high and low alike. They had
asserted their right to remain natural and human under the formalities of
the most elaborately ceremonious society; those who did not like the easy
tone adopted by them in their house might stay away. He, devoid of
ambition, a senator in virtue of his possessions and his name, never
caring to make any use of his adventitious dignity but that of procuring
good appointments for his favorite clients, or good places for his family
on any festive occasion, was a hospitable soul; the good friend of all
his friends, whose motto was "live and let live." Martina, with a heart
as good as gold, had never made any pretensions to beauty, but had
nevertheless been much courted. This worthy couple had for many years
thought that nothing could be more delightful than a residence in the
capital, or at their beautiful villa on the Bosphorus, scorning to follow
the example of other rich and fashionable folks, and go to take baths or
make journeys. It was enough for them to be able to make others happy
under their roof; and there was never any lack of visitors, just because
those who were weary of bending their backs at the Byzantine Court, found
this unceremonious circle particularly restful.
Martina was especially fond of having young people about her, and
Heliodora, the widow of her nephew, had found comfort with her in her
trouble; it was in her house that Orion and Heliodora had met. The young
widow was a great favorite with the old couple, but higher in their
esteem even than she, had been the younger brother of her deceased
husband. He was to have been their heir; but they had mourned his death
now two years; for news had reached them that Narses, who had served in
the Imperial army as tribune of cavalry, had fallen in battle against the
infidels. No one, however, had ever brought a more exact report of his
death; and at last their indefatigable enquiries had resulted in their
learning that he had been taken prisoner by the Saracens and carried into
slavery in Arabia. This report received confirmation through the efforts
of Orion and his deceased father. Within a few hours of the young
Egyptian's departure, they received a letter from the youth they had
given up for lost, written in trembling characters, in which he implored
them to effect his deliverance through Amru, the Arab governor of Egypt.
The old people had set forth at once on their pilgrimage, and Heliodora
had done her part in urging them to this step. Her passion for Orion,
to whom, for more than a year, her gentle heart had been wholly devoted,
had increased every hour since his departure. She had not concealed it
from Martina, who thought it no less than her duty to stand by the poor
lovesick child; for Heliodora had nursed her husband, the senator's
nephew, to the end, with touching fidelity and care; and besides, Martina
had given the young Egyptian--with whom she was "quite in love herself"
--every opportunity of paying his addresses to the young widow.
They were a pair that seemed made for each other, and Martina delighted
in match-making. But in this case, though hearts had met, hands had not,
and finally it had been a real grief to Martina to hear Orion and
Heliodora called--and with good reason--a pair of lovers.
Once she had appealed in her genial way to the young man's conscience,
and he had replied that his father, who was a Jacobite, would never
consent to his union with a woman of any other confession. At that time
she had found little to answer; but she had often thought if only she
could make the Mukaukas acquainted with Heliodora, he, whom she had known
in the capital as a young and handsome admirer of every charming woman,
would certainly capitulate.
Her favorite niece had indeed every grace that a father's heart could
desire to attract the son. She was of good family, the widow of a man of
rank, rich, but just two and twenty, and beautiful enough to bewitch old
or young. A sweeter and gentler soul Martina had never known. Those
large dewy eyes-imploring eyes, she called them--might soften a stone,
and her fair waving hair was as soft as her nature. Add to this her
full, supple figure--and how perfectly she dressed, how exquisitely she
sang and struck the lute! It was not for nothing that she was courted by
every youth of rank in Constantinople--and if the old Mukaukas could but
hear her laugh! There was not a sound on earth more clear, more glad
than Heliodora's laugh. She was not indeed remarkable for intellect, but
no one could call her a simpleton, and your very clever women were not to
every man's taste.
So, when they were to travel to Egypt, Martina took it for granted that
Heliodora must go with them, and that the flirtation which had made her
favorite the talk of the town must, in Memphis, become courtship in
earnest. Then, when she heard at Alexandria that the Mukaukas was lately
dead, she regarded the game as won. Now they were in Memphis, Orion was
sitting before her, and the young man had invited her and her following
of above twenty persons to stay in his house. It was a foregone
conclusion that the travellers were to accept this bidding as prescribed
by the laws of hospitality, and preparations for the move were
immediately set on foot.
Justinus meanwhile explained what had brought them to Egypt, and begged
Orion's assistance. The young man had known the senator's nephew well as
one of the most brilliant and amiable youths of the capital, and he was
sincerely distressed to be forced to inform his friends that Amru, who
could easily have procured the release of Narses, was to start within two
days for Medina, while he himself was compelled to set out on a journey
that very evening, at an hour be could not name.
He saw how greatly this firmly-expressed determination agitated and
disturbed the old couple, and the senator's urgency led him to tell them,
under the pledge of strict secrecy, what business it was that took him
away and what a perilous enterprise he had before him.
He began his story confident of his orthodox guests' sympathy; but to his
amazement they both disapproved of the undertaking, and not, as they
declared, on his account only or for the sake of the help they had
counted on.
The senator reminded him that he was the natural chief of the Egyptian
population in Memphis, and that, by such a scheme, he was undermining his
influence with those whose leader he was by right and duty as his
father's son. His ambition ought to make him aim at this leadership;
and instead of offering such a rebuff to the patriarch, it was his part
to work with him--whose power he greatly underrated--so as to make life
tolerable to their fellow-Christians in a land ruled by Moslems.
Paula's name was not once mentioned; but Orion thought of her and
remained firm, though not without an inward struggle.
At the same time, to prove to his friends how sincerely he desired to
please them, he proposed that he and Justinus should immediately cross
the Nile to lay his application before the Khaliff's vicar. A glance at
the sky showed him that it wanted still an hour and a half of sunset.
His swift horses would not need more than that time for the journey, and
during their absence the rest of the party could move from the inn.
Carts for the baggage were already in waiting below, and chariots had
been ordered to follow and convey his beloved guests to their new
quarters.
The senator agreed to this proposal, and as the two men went off Martina
called after Orion.
"My senator must talk to you on the road, and if you can be brought to
reason you will find your reward waiting for you! Do not be saving of
your talents of gold, old man, till the general has promised to procure
the lad's release.--And listen to me, Orion; give up your mad scheme."
The sun had not wholly disappeared behind the Libyan range when the
snorting Pannonians, all flecked with foam, drove back into the court-
yard of the governor's residence. The two men had unfortunately gained
nothing; for Amru was absent, reviewing the troops between Heliopolis and
Onix, and was not expected home till night or even next morning. The
party had removed from the inn and the senator's white slaves were
already mixing with the black and brown ones of the establishment.
Martina was delighted with her new quarters, and with the beautiful
flowers--most of them new to her--with which the invalid mistress of the
house had had the two great reception-rooms garnished in token of
welcome; but the failure of Justinus' visit to Fostat fell like hoar-
frost on her happy mood.
Orion, she asserted, ought to regard this stroke of ill-luck as a
judgment from God. It was the will of Heaven that he should give up his
enterprise and be content to make due preparations for a noble work which
could be carried through without him, in order to accomplish another, out
of friendship, which urgently needed his help. However, he again
expressed his regret that in spite of everything he must adhere to his
purpose; and when Martina asked him: "What, even if my reward is one that
would especially delight you?" he nodded regretfully. "Yes, even then."
So she merely added, "Well, we shall see," and went on impressively:
"Every one has some peculiarity which stamps his individuality and
becomes him well: in you it is amiability, my son. Such obstinacy does
not suit you; it is quite foreign to you, and is the very opposite to
what I call amiability. Be yourself, even in this instance."
"That is to say weak and yielding, especially when a kind woman. . . ."
"When old friends ask it," she hastily put in; but almost before she had
finished she turned to her husband, exclaiming: "Good Heavens! come to
the window. Did you ever see such a glorious mingling of purple and gold
in the sky? It is as though the old pyramids and the whole land of Egypt
were in flames. But now, great Sesostris,"--the name she gave to Orion
when she was in a good humor with him, "it is time that you should see
what I have brought you. In the first place this trinket," and she gave
him a costly bracelet of old Greek workmanship set with precious stones,
"and then--nay, no Thanks--and then--Well the object is rather large, and
besides--come with me."
As she spoke she went from the reception-room into the anteroom, led the
way to the door of the room which had once been Paula's, and then his
own, opened it a little way, peeped in, and then pushed Orion forward,
saying hastily: "There--do you see--there it is!"
By the window stood Heliodora. The bright radiance of the sinking sun
bathed her slender but round and graceful form, her "imploring" eyes
looked up at him with rapturous delight, and her white arms folded across
her bosom gave her the aspect of a saint, waiting with humble longing for
some miracle, in expectation of unutterable joys.
Martina's eyes, too, were fixed on Orion; she saw how pale he turned at
seeing the young widow, she saw him start as though suddenly overcome by
some emotion--what, she could not guess--and shrink back from the sunlit
vision in the window. These were effects which the worthy matron had not
anticipated.
Never off the stage, thought she, had she seen a man so stricken by love;
for she could not suspect that to him it was as though a gulf had
suddenly yawned at his feet.
With a swiftness which no one could have looked for from her heavy and
bulky figure, Martina hastily returned to her husband, and even at the
door exclaimed: "It is all right, all has gone well! At the sight of her
he seemed thunderstruck! Mark my words: we shall have a wedding here by
the Nile."
"My blessing on it," replied Justinus. "But, wedding or no wedding, all
I care is that she should persuade that fine young fellow to give up his
crazy scheme. I saw how even the brown rascals in the Arab's service
bowed down before him; and he will persuade the general, if any one can,
to do all in his power for Narses. He must not and shall not go! You
impressed it strongly on Heliodora. . . ."
"That she should keep him?" laughed the matron. "I tell you, she will
nail him down if need be."
"So much the better," replied her husband. "But, wife, folks might say
that it was not quite seemly in you to force them together. Properly
speaking, you are as it were her female mentor, the motherly patroness."
"Good Heavens!" exclaimed Martina. "At home they invited no witnesses
to look on at their meetings. The poor love-lorn souls must at any rate
have a chance of speaking to each other and rejoicing that they have met
once more. I will step in presently, and be the anxious, motherly
friend. Tine, Tine! And if it does not end in a wedding, I will make a
pilgrimage to St. Agatha, barefoot."
"And I with only one shoe!" the senator declared, "for, everything in
reason--but the talk about Dora was at last beyond all bounds. It was no
longer possible to have them both together under the same roof. And you
yourself--no, seriously; go in to them."
"Directly, directly.--But first look out of this window once more. Oh,
what a sun!--there, now it is too late. Only two minutes ago the whole
heaven was of the hue of my red Syrian cloak; and now it is all dark!--
The house and garden are beautiful, and everything is old and handsome;
just what I should have expected in the home of the rich Mukaukas."
"And I too," replied Justinus. "But now, go. If they have come to an
understanding, Dora may certainly congratulate herself."
"I should think so! But she need not be ashamed even of her villa, and
they must spend every summer there, I will manage that. If that poor,
dear fellow Narses does not escape with his life--for two years of
slavery are a serious matter--then I should be able. . . ."
"To alter your will? Not a bad idea; but there is no hurry for that; and
now, you really must go."
"Yes, yes, in a minute. Surely I may have time to speak.--I, for my
part, know of no one whom I would sooner put in the place of Narses....."
"Than Orion and Heliodora? Certainly, I have no objection; but now...."
"Well, perhaps it is wicked to think of a man who may still be alive as
numbered with the dead.--At any rate the poor boy cannot go back to his
legion. . . ."
"On no consideration. But, Martina. . . ."
"To-morrow morning Orion must urge our case on the Arab . . . ."
"If he does not go away."
"Will you bet that she fails to keep him."
"I should be a fool for my pains," laughed Justinus. "Do you ever pay me
when I win?--But now, joking apart, you must go and see what they are
about."
And this time she obeyed. She would have won her bet; for Orion, who had
remained unmoved by his sister-in-law's letter, by the warning voice of
the faith of his childhood, by the faithful council of his honest servant
Nilus, or by the senator's convincing arguments--had yielded to
Heliodora's sweet blandishments.
How ardently had her loving heart flamed up, when she saw him so deeply
agitated at the sight of her! With what touching devotion had she sunk
into his arms; how humbly-half faint with sweet sorrow and sweeter
ecstasy--had she fallen at his feet, and clasped his knees, and entreated
him, with eyes full of tears of adoring rapture, not to leave to-day, to
wait only till tomorrow, and then, if he would, to tread her in the dust.
Now--now when she had just found him again after being worn out with
pining and longing-to part now, to see him rush on an uncertain fate--it
would kill her, it would certainly be her death! And when he still had
tried to resist she had rushed into his arms, had stopped his lips with
burning kisses, and whispered in his ear all the flattering words of love
he once had held so dear.
Why had he never seriously tried to win her, why had he so soon forgotten
her? Because she, who could assert her dignity firmly enough with
others, had abandoned herself to him unresistingly after a few meetings,
as if befooled by some magician's spell. The precious spoil so easily
won had soon lost its value in his eyes. But to-day the fire which had
died out blazed up again. Yes, this was the love he craved, he must
have! To be loved with entire and utter devotion, with a heart that
thought only of him and not of itself, that asked only for love in return
for love, that did not fence itself round with caution and invoke the aid
of others for protection against him. This lovely creature, all passion,
who had taken upon herself to endure the contumely of society, and pain
and grief for his sake, knowing too that he had abandoned her, and would
never make her his wife before God and men--she indeed knew what it was
to love; and he who was so often inclined to despair of himself felt his
heart uplifted at the thought that he was so precious in her eyes, nay--
he would own it--so idolized.
And how sweet, how purely womanly she was! Those imploring eyes--
which he had grown quite sick of in Constantinople, for they were as
full of pathetic entreaty when she merely begged him to hold her cloak
for her as when she appealed to his heart of hearts not to leave her--
that entrancing play of glances which had first bewitched him, came to
him to-day as something new and worked the old spell.
In this moment of tender reunion he had promised her at any rate to
consider whether he could not release himself from the pledge by which he
was bound; but hardly had he spoken the words when the memory of Paula
revived in his mind, and an inward voice cried out to him that she was a
being of nobler mould than this yielding, weak woman, abject before him--
that she symbolized his upward struggle, Heliodora his perdition.
At length he was able to tear himself from her embrace; and at the first
step out of this intoxication into real life again he looked about like
one roused from sleep, feeling as though it were by some mocking sport of
the devil himself that Paula's room should have been the scene of this
meeting and of his weakness.
An enquiry from Heliodora, as to the fate of the little white dog that
she had given him as a remembrance, recalled to his mind that luckless
emerald which was to have been his return offering or antidoron. He
evasively replied that, remembering her love of rare gems, he had sent
her a remarkably fine stone about which he had a good deal to say; and
she gave such childlike and charming expression to her delight and
gratitude, and took such skilful advantage of his pleasure in her
clinging tenderness, to convince him of the necessity for remaining at
home, that he himself began to believe in it, and gave way. The more
this conclusion suited his own wishes the easier it became to find
reasons for it: old Rufinus really did not need him; and if he--Orion--
had cause to be ashamed of his vacillation, on the other hand he could
comfort himself by reflecting that it would be unkind and ungrateful to
his good friends to leave them in the lurch just when he could be of use
to them. One pair of protecting arms more or less could not matter to
the nuns, while the captive Narses might very probably perish before he
could be rescued without his interest with the Arab general.
It was high time to decide one way or the other.--Well, no; he ought not
to go away to-day!
That was settled!
Rufinus must at once be informed of his change of purpose. To sit down
and write at such a moment he felt was impossible: Nilus should go and
speak in his name; and he knew how gladly and zealously he would perform
such an errand.
Heliodora clapped her hands, and just as Martina knocked at the door
the pair came out into the anteroom: She, radiant with happiness,
and so graceful in her fashionable, costly, and well-chosen garb,
so royal-looking in spite of her no more than middle height, that even in
the capital she would have excited the admiration of the men and the envy
of the women: He, content, but with a thoughtful smile on his lips.
He had not yet closed the door when in the anteroom he perceived two
female figures, who had come in while Martina was knocking at her niece's
door. These were Katharina and her waiting-maid.
Anubis had been brought to these rooms after his fall from the roof, and
notwithstanding the preparations that had been made for illustrious
guests Philippus could not be persuaded to allow his patient, for whom
perfect quiet was indispensable, to be moved to the lower floor.
The listener who had been so severely punished had with him his mother,
Katharina's old nurse; the water-wagtail, with her maid, had accompanied
her to see the lad, for she was very anxious to assure herself whether
her foster-brother, before his tumble, had succeeded in hearing anything;
but the poor fellow was so weak and his pain so severe that she had not
the heart to torment him with questions. However, her Samaritan's visit
brought her some reward, for to meet Orion coming out of Paula's room
with so beautiful and elegant a woman was a thing worth opening her eyes.
to see. She would have walked from home hither twice over only to see
the clothes and jewels of this heaven sent stranger. Such a being rarely
strayed to Memphis,--and might not this radiant and beautiful creature
be "the other" after all, and not Paula? Might not Orion have been
trifling with her rival as he had already trifled with her? They must
have had a rapturous meeting in that room; every feature of the fair
beauty's saint-like face betrayed the fact. Oh, that Orion! She would
have liked to throttle him; and yet she was glad to think that there was
another besides herself--and she so elegant and lovely--whom he had
betrayed.
"He will stay!" Heliodora exclaimed as she came out of the room; and
Martina held out her hand to the young man, with a fervent: "God bless
you for that!"
She was delighted to see how happy her niece looked but the lively old
woman's eyes were everywhere at once, and when she caught sight of
Katharina who had stood still with curiosity, she turned to her with a
friendly nod and said to Orion:
"Your sister? Or the little niece of whom you used to speak?"
Orion called Katharina and introduced her to his guests, and the girl
explained what had brought her hither; in such a sweet and pathetic
manner--for she was sincerely fond of her foster-brother and play-fellow
--that she quite charmed Martina and Heliodora, and the younger woman
expressed a hope that they might see her often. Indeed, when she was
gone, Martina exclaimed: "A charming little thing! As fresh and bright
as a newly-fledged bird, so brisk and pretty too--and how nicely she
prattles!"
"And the richest heiress in Memphis into the bargain," added Orion. But,
noticing that on this Heliodora cast down her eyes with a troubled
expression, he went on with a laugh: "Our mothers destined us to marry
each other, but we are too ill-matched in size, and not exactly made for
a pair in other ways."
Then, taking leave of them, he went to Nilus and informed him of his
decision. His request that the treasurer would make his excuses to
Rufinus, carry his greetings to Thomas' daughter, and make the most of
his reasons for remaining behind, sent the good man almost beside himself
for joy; and he so far forgot his modest reserve as to embrace Orion as a
son.
The young host sat with his visitors till nearly midnight: and when, on
the following morning, Martina first greeted her niece--who looked
peacefully happy though somewhat tired--she was able to tell her that
the two men had already gone across the Nile, and, she hoped, settled
everything with the Arab governor. Great was her disappointment when
presently Justinus and Orion came back to say that Amru, instead of
returning to Fostat from the review at Heliopolis, had gone straight to
Alexandria. He had engagements there for a few days, and would then
start for Medina.
The senator saw nothing for it but to follow him up, and Orion
volunteered to accompany him.
A faint attempt on Heliodora's part to detain him met with a decisive,
nay, stern refusal. This journey was indeed sheer flight from his own
weakness and from the beautiful creature who could never be anything to
him.
Early in the day he had found time to write to Paula; but he had cast
aside more than one unfinished letter before he could find the right
words. He told her that he loved her and her alone; and as his stylus
marked the wax he felt, with horror of himself, that in fact his heart
was Paula's, and his determination ripened to put an end once for all to
his connection with Heliodora, and not allow himself to see Paula again
till he had forever cut the tie that bound him to the young widow.
The two women went out to see the travellers start, and as they returned
to the house, hanging their heads like defeated warriors, in the
vestibule they met Katharina and her maid. Martina wanted to detain the
little girl, and to persuade her to go up to their rooms with them; but
Katharina refused, and appeared to be in a great hurry. She had just
come from seeing Anubis, who was in less pain to-day, and who had done
his best to tell her what he had overheard. That the flight was to be
northwards he was certain; but he had either misunderstood or forgotten
the name of the place whither the sisters were bound.
His mother and the nurse were dismissed from the room, and then the
water-wagtail in her gratitude had bent over him, had raised his pretty
face a little, and had given him two such sweet kisses that the poor boy
had been quite uneasy. But, when he was alone with his mother once more,
he had felt happier and happier, and the remembrance of the transient
rapture he had known had alleviated the pain he was suffering on
Katharina's account.
Katharina, meanwhile, did not go home at once to her mother; on the
contrary, she went straight off to the Bishop of Memphis, to whom she
divulged all she had learnt with regard to the inhabitants of the convent
and the intended rescue. The gentle Plotinus even had been roused to
great wrath, and no sooner had she left him than he set out for Fostat to
invoke the help of Amru, and--finding him absent--of his Vekeel to enable
him to pursue the fugitive Melchite sisters.
When the water-wagtail was at home again and alone in her room, she said
to herself, with calm satisfaction, that she had now contrived something
which would spoil several days for Orion and for Paula, and that might
prove even fatal, so far as she was concerned.