"Hence to the Tyropean Bridge at the end of this street; thence down
beside the bridge into Gihon. Cross to the wall supporting Moriah and
builded against it thou wilt find a new house, of the fashion of the
Greeks. If thou canst pass her sentries, thou wilt find her within."
The Maccabee thanked his informant and turned through the Passover
hosts to follow the directions.
To a visitor recently familiar with the city, Jerusalem would have
been strange; he would have been lost in its ruined and disordered
streets. But this man came with only the four corners of the compass
to direct him and the Temple as a landmark to guide him. Therefore
though he entered upon territory which he had not traversed since
childhood he went forward confidently.
It was not simple; it was not readily done; but the darkness found him
at his destination.
When he was within a rod of the house, he was halted by a Jewish
soldier. He whispered to the man the word which Amaryllis had sent to
him, and the soldier stepped aside and let him pass.
In another moment he was admitted to the house of Amaryllis.
A wick coated with aromatic wax burned in the brass bowl on a tripod
and cast a crystal clear light down upon the exedra and the delicate
lectern with its rolls of parchment and brass cylinders from which
they had been withdrawn. Opposite, with her arms close down to her
sides, her hands clenched, her shoulders drawn up, stood the girl he
had played for and won in the hills of Judea!
Chapter XIII
A NEW PRETENDER
A sudden wave of delight, a sudden rush of blood through his veins,
swept before it and away for that time all memory of his struggle and
his resolution to renounce her.
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