"No; else I should have entered. But Amaryllis will know me."
"Enter then," the Gischalan said.
In a moment she was admitted at the solid doors and led into a
vestibule. Here, a porter took charge of Momus and showed him into a
side passage, while Laodice followed her conductor through a corridor
into an interior hall of splendid simplicity. Lounging on an exedra
was a young woman in a woolen chiton, barefoot and trifling with the
Greek ampyx that bound her golden hair.
Laodice put up her veil and looked with hurrying heart at her hostess.
Before she could get a preliminary idea of the woman she was to meet,
John spoke lightly:
"Be wearied no longer. I have brought you a mystery--a stranger,
without the countersign, asking audience with you."
"Go back to the fortress," the young woman answered. "Sometime you
will find strangers awaiting you there, also without the password. You
will lose Jerusalem trifling with me. I have spoken!"
John filliped her ear as he passed through into a corridor which must
have led into the Temple precincts. Under the light, Laodice saw that
he was a middle-aged Jew, not handsome, but luxuriant with virility.
His face showed great ability with no conscience, and force and charm
without balance or morals. Here, then, thought Laodice, is the first
of Philadelphus' enemies.
The idler in the exedra, meanwhile, was awaiting the speech of her
visitor.
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