This they did not neglect to do, with the result that presently the Essenes were commanded to send some of their head men to appear before Albinus to answer the charges laid against them.  Accordingly they dispatched Ithiel and two others, who were kept waiting three months at Jerusalem before they could even obtain a hearing.  At length the cause came on, and after some few minutes of talk was adjourned, being but a petty matter.  That same evening Ithiel was informed by an intermediary that if his Order would pay a certain large sum of money to Albinus, nothing more would be heard of the question.  This the Essenes refused to do, as it was against their principles, saying that they demanded nothing but justice, which they were not prepared to buy.  So they spoke, being ignorant that one of their neophytes, Caleb, had in fact aimed the fatal arrow.

Then Albinus, wearying of the business and finding that there was no profit to be made out of the Essenes, commanded them to be gone, saying that he would send an officer to make inquiry on the spot.

Another two months went by, and at length this officer arrived, attended by an escort of twenty soldiers.

As it chanced, on a certain morning in the winter season, Miriam with Nehushta was walking on the Jericho road, when suddenly they saw approaching towards them this little body of armed men.  Perceiving that they were Romans, they turned out of the path to hide themselves among the thorns of the desert.  Thereon he who seemed to be the officer spurred his horse forward to intercept them.

“Do not run—­stand still,” said Nehushta to Miriam, “and show no sign of fear.”

So Miriam halted and began to gather a few autumn flowers that still bloomed among the bushes, till the shadow of the officer fell upon her—­that shadow in which she was destined to walk all her life-days.

“Lady,” said a pleasant voice in Greek, spoken with a somewhat foreign accent—­“lady, pardon, and I pray you, do not be alarmed.  I am a stranger to this part of the country, which I visit on official business.  Will you of your kindness direct me to the village of a people called Essenes, who live somewhere in this desert?”

“Oh, sir!” answered Miriam, “do you, who come with Roman soldiers, mean them any harm?”

“Not I. But why do you ask?”

“Because, sir, I am of their community.”

The officer stared at her—­this beautiful, blue-eyed, white-skinned, delicate-featured girl, whose high blood proclaimed itself in every tone and gesture.

“You, lady, of the community of the Essenes!  Surely then those priests in Jerusalem lie more deeply than I thought.  They told me that the Essenes were old ascetics who worship Apollo, and could not bear so much as the sight of a woman.  And now you say you are an Essene—­you, by Bacchus! you!” and he looked at her with an admiration which, although there was nothing brutal or even rude about it, was amusingly undisguised.