The house of Elkiah had been measurably cleansed when Deborah emerged from the cellar and passed unobserved through the concealed stairway to her own chamber. Next day she came down into the court. A fawn could not have been more timid amid its captors than Deborah seemed as, with apparent surprise and startled look, she emerged amid a group of Greek soldiers whom Meton had left to guard the property. Equally amazed were the soldiers.
"Do not harm me. I will go back," cried Deborah, with tremulous voice.
"We'll not harm you," said an awkward man who was in command of the squad. He attempted a courtesy, which was half a military salute and half an act of gallantry such as in his peasant days he had practised upon country maidens. In executing these difficult tactics he let fall his sarissa, the iron head of which came in such perilous proximity to Deborah that it seemed to belie his words.
"We'll not harm you, lady. We have no orders about you, seeing that the General didn't know you were here."
"You will be kind to me, truly?" she begged.
"By all the gods, yes! Stand back, men!"
"I was afraid to come out of the place Captain Dion hid me in when the Jews took the house. I heard the men shouting, and thought they were searching for me." She trembled like a child.
"No, lady, we were not looking for you, for we supposed you had got away," replied the good-natured pikeman. "We have taken out the dead soldiers which were piled pretty thick hereabouts, and some of them stuffed into corners where they have died like rats in their holes. But it's all cleaned up now, except the smell—blood smell always lasts until the moon changes. The cracks between the pavement stones are red, but we'll have them scraped too. But it was a pity to have knocked the arm off Aphrodite. The man that did that will never win himself a wife—or the goddess has no more blood in her than her statue has. It might have been your arm, lady, if Captain Dion hadn't hid you. I'll off to the citadel and tell the General that the Captain didn't let you escape. I knew he wouldn't. Captain Dion is the bravest of the whole garrison, and Meton ought never to have ordered a better man than himself under arrest. When Governor Lysias hears of it he ought to give Dion the castle, and send Meton to command the camels and ass drivers."
Deborah went to Glaucon's apartment. As she approached she heard voices. A glance between the curtains gave a picture of the pale face of her brother, and close to it that of the Princess. She was beautiful; yes, Deborah thought, as the head of a serpent on its arching neck, with its rainbow eyes charming its victim. The Princess' right arm was about the Jew's shoulder; her left hand on his, which gripped tightly a silken bag. This Deborah recognized as that in which the jewels of the house of Elkiah were always kept.
"There is no other way, my dearest Glaucon, than that I propose," said Helena, half embracing him. "Menelaos is determined to have all you possess. Give me these—no, I will not ask that—but let me care for them. I can conceal them on my person. We will leave Jerusalem. In Antioch we can live together. The races, the dances, the wines, and all the pleasures of the world are there. If we tire of these things as they are in Syria, we may go to Rome, where half of what we have here will suffice for a lifetime. In Rome princes and princesses are known by their jewels and equipages, and no one searches for ancestry any more than for the pedigree of a beautiful horse."