I shook my head.
“So you reject it; you still despise the Caloes who would adore you—still cling to the Gentiles who have spurned you forth like a dog.”
“Not so—I scorn no one—I cling to no one—God help me! I have nothing on earth to which I can cling!”
“Your mother’s people—are they nothing?”
“They murdered her!” I said with a shudder.
Chaleco turned white; his eyes fell, and he muttered,
“I—I did not do it!”
“No, but they did,” I answered.
“It was the law—an old law, made among the people of Egypt centuries ago; no man among us dares withstand the law.”
“But you would have me acknowledge these laws—enforce them?”