liked even by the gentle elders of the Essenes, loved but one being upon earth—­herself, whereas already his bosom seethed with many hates.  She was sure also that any man for whom she chanced to care, if such an one should ever cross her path, would, as Caleb had promised, go in danger at his hands, and the thought frightened her.  Most of all did it frighten her when she saw him glower upon Marcus, although in truth the Roman was nothing to her.  Yet, as she knew, Caleb had judged otherwise.

But if she saw little of him, of this Miriam was sure enough—­that he was seldom far from her, and that he found means to learn from day to day how she spent her hours.  Indeed, Marcus told her that wherever he went he met that handsome young man with revengeful eyes, who she had said was named Caleb.  Therefore Miriam grew frightened and, as the issue will show, not without cause.

One afternoon, while Miriam was at work upon the marble, and the three elders were as usual sunk in slumber, Marcus said suddenly: 

“I forgot.  I have news for you, lady.  I have found out who murdered that Jewish thief whose end, amongst other things, I was sent to investigate.  It was your friend Caleb.”

Miriam started so violently that her chisel gave an unexpected effect to one of Marcus’s curls.

“Hush!” she said, glancing towards the sleepers, one of whom had just snored so loudly that he began to awake at the sound; then added in a whisper, “They do not know, do they?”

He shook his head and looked puzzled.

“I must speak to you of this matter,” she went on with agitation, and in the same whisper.  “No, not now or here, but alone.”

“When and where you will,” answered Marcus, smiling, as if the prospect of a solitary conversation with Miriam did not displease him, although this evil-doing Caleb was to be its subject.  “Name the time and place, lady.”

By now the snoring elder was awake, and rising from his chair with a great noise, which in turn roused the others.  Nehushta also rose from her seat and in doing so, as though by accident, overset a copper tray on which lay metal tools.

“In the garden one hour after sunset.  Nehushta will leave the little lower door unlocked.”

“Good,” answered Marcus; then added in a loud voice, “Not so, lady.  Ye gods! what a noise!  I think the curl improved by the slip.  It looks less as though it had been waxed after the Egyptian fashion.  Sirs, why do you disturb yourselves?  I fear that to you this long waiting must be as tedious as to me it seems unnecessary.”

The sun was down, and the last red glow had faded from the western sky, which was now lit only by the soft light of a half-moon.  All the world lay bathed in peace and beauty; even the stern outlines of the surrounding mountains seemed softened, and the pale waters of the Dead Sea and the ashen face of the desert gleamed like silver new cast from the mould.  From the oleanders and lilies which bloomed along the edge of the irrigation channels, and from the white flowers of the glossy, golden-fruited orange trees, floated a perfume delicious to the sense, while the silence was only broken from time to time by the bark of a wandering dog or the howl of a jackal in the wilderness.