“Seeing that my reputation was too much for me, sinner that I am; and that nothing better could be done, I said, ‘You are unreasonable; but it shall be as you say. The lady will come and confirm all I have said. But meanwhile (here I drew out my bag of gold pieces) this is what she has given me to reward those who take risks in her service; and if you will daily put into the grated opening plenty of food and drink, together with whatever else I may give you, and will daily come to me in the upper hamlet where you are in the habit of going for provisions, and will swear that you have done so by the beards of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I will, each time, give you two gold pieces. And I will begin now; for I want you to put this note into the dungeon this very day. Swear to me that you will do it.’ And I held up two shining pieces in the sun.
“Her eyes snapped. So did mine—the gold looked so dazzling and lovely in the golden sun. As for the husband, he sat with amazed eyes and open mouth, but said nothing. Neither of them had seen such gold before.
“The woman stretched out her hand. I made her swear, gave her the note you gave me, and then gave her the two coins.
“Just then a man shouted to them from the castle in a threatening tone; and they hurried away in a fright, while I gathered up my wares as fast as I could and went back to the hamlet. Here I scrawled a note to you, gave it to my son whom I had taken the precaution to take with me, and put him on board of a vessel for Alexandria just then passing. Since then the custode has been to me daily, made oath that she has fed the prisoner, and received her gold pieces. She reports that Draco has gone back to the city for a day or two; but that he has left a substitute who wears the key of the dungeon at his belt, and leads off every night in the drunken debauch. I expect her every moment. It is about time for her to make her daily visit.... There she is with her provision basket! I will go and bring her on board.”
Rachel was struck with the air of the humbly dressed and somewhat bent woman whom the peddler soon brought up to her. She looked the picture of timidity and uncertainty—as if drawn in opposite directions by powerful forces, and almost torn in pieces in the struggle between them. Her nerves were all on the wing. One could warrant that no sound sleep had come to her for many a night. She staggered rather than walked up to where Rachel was sitting.
Rachel saluted her warmly; with her own hands placed a cushion for her near herself; asked her name; by degrees drew her out to tell of her former life in Alexandria and of her bits of contact with the family of Alexander. How long had she lived here? Were there others of “our faith and race” in this neighborhood? Was she holding fast to the God of Israel? And did she hear and understand the chant from the prophet Daniel?
Seti sat silently by and listened to the gentle, soothing tones in which, without any airs of condescension and patronage, but simply as woman with woman and believer with believer, the princess talked with the peasant, till he saw the discomposure of the poor woman slowly give way to the winsome ways of one speaking to her as from her own level. And yet what a contrast! The fresh, glorious beauty and grace, fittingly arrayed, of the one over against the faded features and crooked form and rough garments of the other! Could it be that the two were of the same race? No one who saw Rachel that day could doubt that she at least thought so, and knew how to make her lowly sister feel the same. Said Seti to himself, “The last few days have ripened her like tropical suns.” There are ways in which the great may put themselves in sympathy and fellowship with the lowly without putting on their dress, eating their food, living in their cabins, and using their language.
“And this is my grandfather, Deborah,” at length said Rachel, looking toward Seti, “who, though he is high priest of Egypt, honors the God of our fathers and loves our people. He shall be witness to what I will now say to you. Our merchant friend here has told you how much interested we are to rescue the young man of our faith who is now in the castle dungeon. But Ezra was not able to tell you, as I do now, that the young man was not imprisoned by the government, but by a band of ruffians on their own private feud; and that we have in our hands a warrant from the governor to deliver him from his enemies as best we can. But there are reasons why we wish to do it as quietly as possible. Here you can help us. You have already helped us by keeping our friend from starvation. Now we want you to help us still further—in fact, to help us free him this very night. If there is any risk to you in what we shall now propose, we will reward you accordingly. We will do for you all that our agent the merchant has promised. We will make it unnecessary for you to be a servant any more. If you choose you shall go with us to Alexandria, and live at your ease for the rest of your life. You know that we are able to do as much as we say. Now, grandfather, will you tell Deborah what we want her to do?”
“Do you and your husband draw and carry the wine every night to the soldiers?” inquired Seti.
The woman answered in the affirmative.