Then came the sound of footsteps on the stair, and presently a man could be heard fumbling at the further side of the door.  Rachel shut her eyes and prayed; Nehushta, drawing the knife from her bosom, crept towards the doorway like a tigress, and placed her left hand on the stick that held it shut.  Well it was that she did so, since presently the soldier gave a savage push that might easily have caused the wood to slip on the cemented floor.  Now, satisfied that it was really locked, he turned and went down the steps.

With a gasp of relief Nehushta once more set her ear to the crack.

“It’s fast enough,” reported the man, “but perhaps it might be as well to get the key from Amram and have a look.”

“Friend,” said the officer, “I think that you must be in love with this black lady; or is it her mistress whom you admire?  I shall recommend you for the post of Christian-catcher to the cohort.  Now we’ll try that house at the corner, and if they are not there, I am off to the palace to see how his godship is getting on with that stomach-ache and whether it has moved him to order payment of our arrears.  If he hasn’t, I tell you flatly that I mean to help myself to something, and so do the rest of the lads, who are mad at the stopping of the games.”

“It would be much better to get that key from Amram and have a look upstairs,” put in number two soldier reflectively.

“Then go to Amram, or to Pluto, and ask for the key of Hades for aught I care!” replied his superior with irritation.  “He lives about a league off at the other end of the town.”

“I do not wish for the walk,” said the conscientious soldier; “but as we are searching for these escaped Christians, by your leave, I do think it would have been much better to have got that key from Amram and peeped into the chamber upstairs.”

Thereon the temper of the officer, already ruffled by the events of the morning and the long watch of the preceding night, gave way, and he departed, consigning the Christians, escaped or recaptured, Amram and the key, his subordinate, and even the royal Agrippa who did not pay his debts, to every infernal god of every religion with which he was acquainted.

Nehushta lifted her head from the floor.

“Thanks be to God!  They are gone,” she said.

“But, Nou, will they not come back?  Oh!  I fear lest they should come back.”

“I think not.  That sharp-nosed rat has made the other angry, and I believe that he will find him some harder task than the seeking of a key from Amram.  Still, there is danger that this Amram may appear himself to visit his store, for in these days of festival he is sure to be selling grain to the bakers.”

Scarcely were the words out of her mouth when a key rattled, the door was pushed sharply, and the piece of wood slipped and fell.  Then the hinges creaked, and Amram—­none other—­entered, and, closing the door behind him, locked it, leaving the key in the lock.