"She is beautiful, unique, and so eligible to my collection of arts and artists under this roof. She shall stay till fate shows its hand for all of us."
"You have housed Discord under your roof, then," he said. "Laodice, the wife to this Philadelphus, will not be a happy woman; and I–I shall not be a happy man. Let me return favor for your favor to me. I will take her away."
She laughed, though it seemed that a hard note had entered her voice.
"You will permit me, then, to surmise for myself why you came to Jerusalem. You seem to have known this girl before. I shall not ask you; in return for that promise that I may conclude what I will."
"If you are too discerning, lady," he answered, while his eyes sought down the corridor for a glimpse of the one he had come to see, "you are dangerous."
"And what then?"
"I must devise a way to silence you."
She lifted her brows. In that very speech was the portrait of the Maccabee that she had come to love through letters.
"There is something familiar in your mood," she said thoughtfully. "It seems that I have known you–for many years."
He made no answer. He had said all that he wished to say to this woman. She noted his silence and rose.