“Is that your last word, Miriam?”

“It is.  If it pleases you by false witness and by murder to destroy the man who once spared you, then if such a thing be suffered, have your will and reap its fruits.  I make no bargain with you, for myself or for him—­do your worst to both of us.”

“So be it,” said Caleb with a bitter laugh, “but I think that the ship Luna will lack her fairest passenger.”

Miriam sank down upon a seat and covered her face with her hands, a piteous sight in her misery and the terror which, notwithstanding her bold words, she could not conceal.  Caleb walked to the door and paused there, while the white-haired Nehushta stood by the brazier of charcoal and watched them both with her fierce eyes.  Presently Caleb glanced round at Miriam crouched by the window and a strange new look came into his face.

“I cannot do it,” he said slowly, each word falling heavily from his lips like single rain-drops from a cloud, or the slow blood from a mortal wound.

Miriam let her hands slip from her face and stared at him.

“Miriam,” he said, “you are right; I have sinned against you and this man Marcus.  Now I will expiate my sin.  Your secret is safe with me, and since you hate me I will never see you more.  Miriam, we look upon each other for the last time.  Further, if I can, I will work for the deliverance of Marcus and help him to join you in Tyre, whither the Luna is bound—­is she not?  Farewell?”

Once again he turned to go, but it would seem that his eyes were blinded, or his brain was dulled by the agony that worked within.  At least Caleb caught his foot in the ancient uneven boards, stumbled, and fell heavily upon his face.  Instantly, with a low hiss of hate and a spring like that of a cat, Nehushta was upon him.  Thrusting her knees upon his back she seized the nape of his neck with her left hand and with her right drew a dagger from her bosom.

“Forbear!” said Miriam.  “Touch him with that knife and we part forever.  Nay, I mean it.  I myself will hand you to the officer, even if he hales me to Domitian.”

Then Nehushta rose to her feet.

“Fool!” she said, “fool, to trust to that man of double moods, whose mercy to-night will be vengeance to-morrow.  Oh! you are undone!  Alas! you are undone!”

Regaining his feet Caleb looked at her contemptuously.

“Had you stabbed she might have been undone indeed,” he said.  “Now, as of old, there is little wisdom in that gray head of yours, Nehushta; nor can your hate suffer you to understand the intermingled good and evil of my heart.”  Then he advanced to Miriam, lifted her hand and kissed it.  With a sudden movement she proffered him her brow.

“Nay,” he said, “tempt me not, it is not for me.  Farewell.”

Another instant and he was gone.

It would seem that Caleb kept his word, for three days later the vessel Luna sailed unmolested from the port of Ostia in the charge of the Greek captain Hector, having on board Miriam, Nehushta, Julia, and Gallus.