"O, that is the way of it! I know of that man! Well, then, perchance it is not so much because she loves her husband as because the debt to the pawned one chafes. I hear that he is young and comely."
"Forget the slanderous jest, Flaccus; I am ashamed of it. What shall I do in this matter?"
"Lend her three talents."
"She would buy the man's freedom, but what then? She would still be here in Alexandria as penniless as ever."
"The consular suggestion, it seems, only held thee a moment in abeyance," the proconsul said slyly. "She will get the three hundred thousand drachmæ, yet!"
"She will not," the alabarch declared, "First, because I have it not; next, because I am not eager to pay a Herod's debts."
"Or, chiefly, because thou shouldst never see it again."
The alabarch tapped the pavement with his foot and looked away. The attitude was confession to a belief in the proconsul's convictions.
"What sum couldst thou lend by pinching thyself?" Flaccus asked presently.
"Two hundred thousand drachmæ—but not to a Herod. I could lose five talents without ruin."