But, she asked herself, was it not possible that this lovely girl who had shown signs of illimitable fortitude, could live in the shelter of the captivating Hesper as uprightly as she had lived under the roof of the man she called her husband?
In one exigency, the hopes of Amaryllis budded; in the other, her intuitive belief in the strength of Laodice discouraged her. And while she alternately hoped and doubted, Philadelphus, in the chair opposite her, talked.
"It follows that you and I must work together to gain diverse ends. If our fortunes are to be tragic, we are undoing each other in this conjunction. Since I in all frankness prefer it to turn out comedy, let us make no error. Are you weary of John? Do you seek a new diversion?"
She looked at him, at first puzzled, then with a frown. It leaped to her lips, grown impatient with suffering, to tell him all that she had evolved of the histories of himself, his lady and of Hesper; but there seemed to be an element of recklessness in that which threatened to do away with a means for her success. He did not wait for her answer.
"And I," he said with mock intensity, "am done to death with weariness–with my moneyer, this lady of mine. Let us be diverted while we live, for by the signs we shall all die soon."
"Where," he began when her mind wandered entirely from him, "dost thou think the mysterious man hath taken my other wife?
"I would I knew," he continued, conducting his inquiry alone. "It will be right simple to have her beauty spoiled in this hungry town, unless he takes tenderest care of her."
There was still no comment, but the lively sparkle in the Greek's eye showed that he had touched upon a jealous spot.
"And by the by," he pursued, "what does this stranger, whom I can not remember having known, look like? A villain?"
She answered now in a voice filled with rancor.