Hypatia or New Foes with an Old Face Part 31

'Heaven forbid! I have nothing in common with such animals but flesh and blood, and a seat in the lecture-room!'

'Of the heathen woman?'

Philammon, after the fashion of young men in fear, rushed desperately into the subject himself, just because he dreaded a.r.s.enius's entering on it quietly.

'Yes, of the heathen woman. Of course you have seen Cyril before you came hither?'

'I have, and-'

'And,' went on Philammon, interrupting him, 'you have been told every lie which prurience, stupidity, and revenge can invent. That I have trampled on the cross-sacrificed to all the deities in the pantheon-and probably'-(and he blushed scarlet)-'that that purest and holiest of beings-who, if she were not what people call a pagan, would be, and deserves to be, worshipped as the queen of saints-that she-and I-' and he stopped.

'Have I said that I believed what I may have heard?'

'No-and therefore, as they are all simple and sheer falsehoods, there is no more to be said on the subject. Not that I shall not be delighted to answer any questions of yours, my dearest father-'

'Have I asked any, my child?'

'No. So we may as well change the subject for the present,'-and he began overwhelming the old man with inquiries about himself, Pambo, and each and all of the inhabitants of the Laura to which a.r.s.enius, to the boy's infinite relief, answered cordially and minutely, and even vouchsafed a smile at some jest of Philammon's on the contrast between the monks of Nitria and those of Scetis.

a.r.s.enius was too wise not to see well enough what all this flippancy meant; and too wise, also, not to know that Philammon's version was probably quite as near the truth as Peter's and Cyril's; but for reasons of his own, merely replied by an affectionate look, and a compliment to Philammon's growth.

And yet you seem thin and pale, my boy.'

'Study,' said Philammon, 'study. One cannot burn the midnight oil without paying some penalty for it.... However, I am richly repaid already; I shall be more so hereafter.'

'Let us hope so. But who are those Goths whom I pa.s.sed in the streets just now?'

'Ah! my father,' said Philammon, glad in his heart of any excuse to turn the conversation, and yet half uneasy and suspicious at a.r.s.enius's evident determination to avoid the very object of his visit. 'It must have been you, then, whom I saw stop and speak to Pelagia at the farther end of the street. What words could you possibly have had wherewith to honour such a creature?'

'G.o.d knows. Some secret sympathy touched my heart.... Alas! poor child! But how came you to know her?'

'All Alexandria knows the shameless abomination,' interrupted a voice at their elbow-none other than that of the little porter, who had been dodging and watching the pair the whole way, and could no longer restrain his longing to meddle. 'And well it had been for many a rich young man had odd Miriam never brought her over, in an evil day, from Athens. .h.i.ther.'

'Miriam?'

'Yes, monk; a name not unknown, I am told, in palaces as well as in slave-markets.'

'An evil-eyed old Jewess?'

'A Jewess she is, as her name might have informed you; and as for her eyes, I consider them, or used to do so, of course-for her injured nation have been long expelled from Alexandria by your fanatic tribe-as altogether divine and demoniac, let the base imagination of monks call them what it likes.'

'But how did you know this Pelagia, my son? She is no fit company for such as you.'

Philammon told, honestly enough, the story of his Nile journey, and Pelagia's invitation to him.

'You did not surely accept it?'

'Heaven forbid that Hypatia's scholar should so degrade himself!'

a.r.s.enius shook his head sadly.

'You would not have had me go?'

'No, boy. But how long hast thou learned to call thyself Hypatia's scholar, or to call it a degradation to visit the most sinful, if thou mightest thereby bring back a lost lamb to the Good Shepherd? Nevertheless, thou art too young for such employment-and she meant to tempt thee doubtless.'

'I do not think it. She seemed struck by my talking Athenian Greek, and having come from Athens.'

'And how long since she came from Athens?' said a.r.s.enius, after a pause. 'Who knows?'

'Just after it was sacked by the barbarians,' said the little porter, who, beginning to suspect a mystery, was peaking and peering like an excited parrot. 'The old dame brought her hither among a cargo of captive boys and girls.'

'The time agrees.... Can this Miriam be found?'

'A sapient and courteous question for a monk to ask! Do you not know that Cyril has expelled all Jews four months ago?'

'True, true.... Alas!' said the old man to himself, 'how little the rulers of this world guess their own power! They move a finger carelessly, and forget that that finger may crush to death hundreds whose names they never heard-and every soul of them as precious in G.o.d's sight as Cyril's own.'

'What is the matter, my father?' asked Philammon. 'You seem deeply moved about this woman....'

'And she is Miriam's slave?'

'Her freedwoman this four years past,' said the porter. 'The good lady-for reasons doubtless excellent in themselves, though not altogether patent to the philosophic mind-thought good to turn her loose on the Alexandrian republic, to seek what she might devour.'

'G.o.d help her! And you are certain that Miriam is not in Alexandria?'

The little porter turned very red, and Philammon did so likewise; but he remembered his promise, and kept it.

'You both know something of her, I can see. You cannot deceive an old statesman, sir!'-turning to the little porter with a look of authority-'poor monk though he be now. If you think fitting to tell me what you know, I promise you that neither she nor you shall be losers by your confidence in me. If not, I shall find means to discover.'

Both stood silent.

'Philammon, my son! and art thou too in league against-no, not against me; against thyself, poor misguided boy?'

'Against myself?'

'Yes-I have said it. But unless you will trust me, I cannot trust you.'

'I have promised.'

'And I, sir statesman, or monk, or both, or neither, have sworn by the immortal G.o.ds!' said the porter, looking very big.

a.r.s.enius paused.

'There are those who hold that an oath by an idol, being nothing, is of itself void. I do not agree with them. If thou thinkest it sin to break thine oath, to thee it is sin. And for thee, my poor child, thy promise is sacred, were it made to Iscariot himself. But hear me. Can either of you, by asking this woman, be so far absolved as to give me speech of her? Tell her-that is, if she be in Alexandria, which G.o.d grant-all that has pa.s.sed between us here, and tell her, on the solemn oath of a Christian, that a.r.s.enius, whose name she knows well, will neither injure nor betray her. Will you do this?'

'a.r.s.enius?' said the little porter, with a look of mingled awe and pity.

The old man smiled. 'a.r.s.enius, who was once called the Father of the Emperors. Even she will trust that name.'