"What is this?" he asked.
"I have bound thee to my cause," the young man answered.
"How? Nay, answer me, Marsyas. What hast thou done?" the prince urged, impelled by affection as well as wonder.
"I have bought my revenge, and have paid for it with a season of bondage."
"Hast thou given thyself in hostage for us?" Cypros cried, springing up.
Marsyas, without reply, moved to leave the room. But Agrippa planted himself in the young man's way, and Cypros in tears slipped down on her knees at his side, and, raising his hand, kissed it.
"We shall not forget," she whispered to him.
"I shall not know peace till I have redeemed thee," Agrippa declared with misted eyes.
Great haste to get away from the overwhelmed pair seized the Essene. Trembling he shook off their hold and hurried out into the air.
He had to quiet a great amazement in him at the thing he had planned for so many days to do. After a long agitated tramp in search of composure, he began to see more clearly the results of his extreme act. He had fixed himself within reach of Vitellius and the Sanhedrim: unless the ill fortune of the luckless prince improved, he had bound himself to servitude for a lifetime.