"Are the good all dead?" she said.
"In Jerusalem, yes; for Virtue gets hungry, at times."
She had risen and moved away from him, but he followed her with
interested eyes.
"Then--then--" she began, hesitating under a rush of convictions.
"That is why--why I can not--why he--he--"
He knew she spoke of Philadelphus.
"Go on," he said.
"Why I can not live in safety near him!"
He, too, arose. Until that moment it had not occurred to him that
Julian of Ephesus, as repugnant to her as she had shown him ever to
be, might prove a peril to her life as he had been to the Maccabee who
had stood in his way.
"What has he said to you?" he demanded fiercely. "How do you live,
here in this house?"
She threw up her head, seeing another meaning in his question.
"Shut in! Locked!" she said between her teeth.
"But even then you are not safe!"
She drew back hastily and looked at him with alarm. What did he mean?
He was beside her.
"Tell me, in truth, who you are," he said tenderly, "and I shall
reveal myself."
Then, indeed, Amaryllis had told him her claim and had convinced him
that it was fraudulent.
"And she told you?" she said wearily.
"Tell me," he insisted. "I have truly a revelation worth hearing!"
She made no answer.
"You owe it me," he added presently. "Behold what damaging things I
have intrusted to you.
Pages:
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247