Pearl-Maiden eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 486 pages of information about Pearl-Maiden.

Pearl-Maiden eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 486 pages of information about Pearl-Maiden.

So Miriam went and laid herself down to rest in the little cemented vault which was to be her home for four long months; and being worn out, notwithstanding the sufferings she had passed and her fears for her grandfather, slept there as soundly as ever she had done in her wind-swept chamber at the palace of Tyre, or in her house at the village of the Essenes.

When she awoke and saw the darkness all about her, she thought that it must be night; then remembering that in this place it was always night, called to Nehushta, who uncovered the little lamp that burned in a corner of the vault, and went out, to return presently with the news that according to the Essenes, it was day.  So she rose and put on her robes, and they passed together into the great chamber.  Here they found the Essenes at prayer and making their reverences to the sun which they could not see, after which they ate their morning meal.  Now Miriam spoke to Ithiel, telling him of her trouble about her grandfather, who, if he himself still lived, would think that she was dead.

“One thing is certain,” replied her great-uncle:  “that you shall not go out to seek him, nor must you tell him of your hiding-place, since soon or late this might mean that all of us would be destroyed, if only for the sake of the food which we have hoarded.”

Miriam asked if she could not send a message.  He answered: 

“No, since none would dare to take it.”  In the end, however, after she had pleaded with him long and earnestly, it was agreed that she should write the words, “I am safe and well, but in a place that I must not tell you of,” and sign her name upon a piece of parchment.  This letter Ithiel, who purposed to creep out into the city that evening disguised as a beggar, to seek for tidings, said he would take, and, if might be, bribe some soldier to deliver it to Benoni at the house of the high priest, if he were there.

So Miriam wrote the letter, and at nightfall Ithiel and another brother departed, taking it with them.

On the following morning they returned, safe, but with a dreadful tale of the slaughters in the city and in the Temple courts, where the mad factions still fought furiously.

“Your tidings, my uncle?” said Miriam, rising to meet him.  “Does he still live?”

“Be of good comfort,” he answered.  “Benoni reached the house of Mathias in safety, and Caleb also, and now they are sheltering within the Temple walls.  This much I had from one of the high priest’s guards, who, for the price of a piece of gold I gave him, swore that he would deliver the letter without fail.  But, child, I will take no more, for that soldier eyed me curiously and said it was scarcely safe for beggars to carry gold.”

Miriam thanked him for his goodness and his news, saying that they lifted a weight from her heart.

“I have other tidings that may perhaps make it lighter still,” went on the old man, looking at her sideways.  “Titus with a mighty host draws near to Jerusalem from Caesarea.”

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Pearl-Maiden from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.