Saul Of Tarsus Part 31

Marsyas looked after her in amazement. It was the same slave-woman whom he had helped at Peter the usurer's.

Cypros, with her head drooping, a delicate forefinger on her chin, came slowly and sorrowfully into the hall. As Marsyas looked at her, she seemed to him to be half-woman, half-child. But when she saw him, her face lighted, her eyes glowed. With extended hands she came toward him.

"Nay, nay," she said, seeing that thanks were on his lips. "Do not shame me with thy thanks, Marsyas, for I had a selfish use in releasing thee."

"But I know, nevertheless, that I should have had freedom at thy hands though I never saw thee again."

"Oh, be not so filled with confidence and sweet believing, else I fear for myself," she said earnestly. "Nay, if I were wholly unselfish, I should come to thee, this hour of thy honor, to bring thee praise. Yet I come with mine own interest, to charge thee anew!"

"Command me; thou hast purchased me!"

"Not so; but thou hast purchased my husband, with the extreme of thy sacrifice for his sake!"

"Lady, I did that thing for myself--for mine own ends!"

"Nevertheless, it was my husband who profited. Thou must learn that much hath transpired here in Alexandria. The alabarch had not the three hundred thousand drachmae to lend--"

Marsyas' forehead contracted; was not his work against Saul of Tarsus progressing?

"--but he gave my lord in all readiness five talents, with which we ransomed thee. It was all the good alabarch could afford, but it is not enough for me and my babes. Wherefore Agrippa goes to Rome without us. There, infallibly he will obtain money from Antonia, discharge his debt to Caesar and settle Vitellius' vengeful search after thee. There, he shall be restored to favor with Caesar and come into possession of his kingdom!"

"How thou liftest my bitter heart!" Marsyas exclaimed. "Go yet further and say that, thereafter, I shall have my requital, my hunger after vengeance satisfied!"

"All that shall be," she said with gravity, "on one condition!"

"What?" he besought earnestly.

"That he who hath Agrippa's welfare deepest in his heart shall ever be near my lord to protect him against himself!"

"O lady, even thou canst not wish thy husband successful with greater yearning than I!"

"So I do believe! But hear me. Thou seest my husband; thou knowest that he plans only for the moment, risks too much, is over-confident and too little cautious! In the beginning he believes that he is right, and thereafter and on to the end he acts, chooses friends, and makes enemies as his conviction directs him. Thus he ruined himself thrice over from Rome to Idumea. None but one so eager for his success as I, but abler than I, can govern him! And thou must be his keeper, Marsyas!"

"Thou yieldest me a welcome charge, lady," he said quickly. "Thou knowest that I would not have him fail; wherefore, I yield thee my word!"

"Be thou blessed! Yet there is more!"

In spite of her preparation, her face flushed, and she hesitated. Then as if forcing herself to speak, she said:

"Thou--thou wilt keep my lord's love for me, Marsyas?"

"I do not understand," he said kindly.

"Thou didst not say such a thing when my lord asked thee for twenty thousand drachmae. Thou didst get the drachmae; keep now my husband's love for me. As thou didst offer thyself for his purse, offer thyself for his soul--if need be!"

He frowned at the pavement and then at her. He had evolved enough from her words to believe that her call aimed at his spiritual welfare and he remembered that he was an Essene.

"Be his companion," she hurried on, "be more; be his comrade, his abettor, even; sacrifice much; thy prejudices, even some of thy spotlessness, but make thyself desirable to him. Then thou canst control him. Promise, Marsyas! Oh, thy hope to overthrow Saul is not dearer to thee than this thing is to me! Promise!"

"Be comforted," he said hurriedly, for there were steps approaching from the inner room. "I shall do all that I can. More than that, one less than an angel can not promise!"

She, too, heard the footsteps and pa.s.sed up the stairs.

Looking up from his disturbed contemplation of the pavement, Marsyas saw Cla.s.sicus in the arch leading into the hall. If the young Essene had been a cestophorus upholding the ceiling, the philosopher's gaze could not have been more indifferent. He pa.s.sed on and disappeared into the vestibule.

Hardly had he pa.s.sed, before the dark end of the corridor leading in from the garden gave up the stealthy figure of Eutychus, running, bent, purposeful and a-tiptoe, to overtake Cla.s.sicus. Evidently he had not seen Marsyas, for he pa.s.sed without faltering and disappeared the way Cla.s.sicus had taken.

Instantly and as silently Marsyas followed.

At the porch, the alabarch bade his guests good night, and when Marsyas brought up, he found Cla.s.sicus just departing and Eutychus nowhere to be seen. Surmising that there was a humbler exit for the servants, out of which the charioteer had taken himself, Marsyas pa.s.sed out directly after the philosopher.

His surmises were not wrong, for the instant Cla.s.sicus planted foot on the earth without, Eutychus came out of the darkness and bowed.

"Good my lord," he began, "the story truly told is this--" but his words babbled off into stammers and inarticulate sound, for Marsyas, large in the gloom, stood over him.

"Thy master hath need of thee, Eutychus," he said in a soft voice. The charioteer gulped and slid back into the door that had given him exit.

"Peace to thee, sir," the Essene said to Cla.s.sicus, and bowing, returned into the house.

"The truth of the story is this," said Cla.s.sicus as he stepped into his chair and was borne away, "the Essene is no Essene!"

At the farther end of the corridor within, Marsyas saw Eutychus lurking. Silent and swift the young Essene went after him. The charioteer, fearing for cause, fled and Marsyas followed.

Agrippa, on the point of ascending to his chamber, saw them flit noiselessly into the dusk. His wonder was awakened. Drumah, with a laver under her arm, was emerging from the kitchens when she caught a glimpse of them. The prince stepped down and followed; Drumah slipped after.

At the door leading into the colonnade of the garden, Marsyas seized Eutychus.

"Thou insufferable coward!" he brought out. "Thou blight and peril under a hospitable roof! I know what thou wouldst have said to the master's guest!"

Eutychus paled and struggled to free himself, but Marsyas forced him against the wall and pinned him there.

"If so much as a word escape thee, concerning the alabarch's daughter, if by a quiver of thy lashes thou dost betray aught that thou knowest to any living being, or dead post, or empty s.p.a.ce, I shall kill thee and feed the eels of the sea with thy carca.s.s!"

Fixing the charioteer with a menacing eye he held him until he was sure his words had conveyed their full meaning.

"I have spoken!" he added. Then he threw the man aside and turned to go back to his room. But in his path, though happily out of earshot of his low-spoken words, stood Agrippa; behind him, Drumah. Not a little disturbed, Marsyas stopped. Eutychus saw the prince and expected partizanship.

"Seest thou how thy servant is used by this vagrant?" he demanded.

But Agrippa laid his hand on Marsyas' arm.

"I do not know thy provocation," he said, "but I know it was just. Go back! It is not enough. Teach him to respect thy strength. Thou hast merely made him dangerous!"

But Marsyas begged Agrippa's permission to go on and the prince, still declaring that the Essene had made a mistake, turned and went with him.

Drumah, with her head in the air, pa.s.sed Eutychus without casting a look upon him.