Joazer had not waited for the conclusion of Naomi's sentence, but had hurried from the terrace to meet and to welcome his former pupil; and Salome seized the opportunity of his absence to entreat her husband to conceal from Javan, at least for a time, the apostasy of his sister.
"Doubtless," she urged, "our prayers and our arguments will, ere long, bring her back into the path of truth; and you know, Zadok, the violence of Javan's feelings with regard to the Nazarene faith. Before I go to meet my son, let me hear you promise to keep from him the knowledge of what would so deeply grieve him."
Zadok gave the promise which she required, for he hoped that Naomi might derive benefit from the conversation and the learning of her brother; and he knew that if Javan even suspected her of being a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, he would hold it to be contamination to have any intercourse with her. Naomi rejoiced in this concession, for she dreaded her brother's wrath; and she determined that she would not confess to him her faith so long as duty and sincerity did not require it. She would gladly have retired to her own chamber, and related to Claudia all that had occurred, but she felt that her absence from the family circle on this occasion would excite the surprise and call forth the inquiries of her brother; she therefore endeavoured to subdue her emotion, and to assume a cheerful aspect, before Javan and the rabbi, joined by her father and mother, appeared on the terrace.
The greetings and the animated conversation that ensued, allowed her time to rally her spirits and regain her composure. Javan had much to tell of his perils at Jotapata, of his long and irksome captivity, and of his escape and subsequent adventures. And as the name of Marcellus was frequently mentioned in his narrative, and Javan also faithfully delivered the parting messages of their former friend to each member of the family, Naomi felt so deep an interest in the discourse as to forget for a time her own peculiar trials and sorrows. Claudia also was delighted at the news of her brother's safety and prosperity. It was a long time since he had been able to send her any intelligence; but in his last letter he had informed him that their father was anxiously awaiting any favourable opportunity for recalling her from Jerusalem, and placing her in some secure retreat, before the Roman army should commence a serious attack upon the capital. She had therefore, since the departure of Simon and his army, been in constant expectation of receiving a summons from Rufus, and an intimation of the plan which he wished her to pursue in order to join him. She ardently desired again to see her father and brother; and yet she dreaded this summons, for her heart was linked to Jerusalem by many ties, and she regretted that she had not been born a Jewish maiden, that so her duty as well as her affections might lead her to share the dangers and remain to sympathise in the sorrows of her friends. She had prospects of happiness laid out before her, the particulars of which shall be detailed hereafter, but she feared that her father's consent might not be obtained for their accomplishment, and that he might demand from her a sacrifice that she felt she could hardly make.
When first she recognised Javan in the garden, she thought that he might have been employed by her father to escort her out of the city to meet him in some safe place; and she listened with mingled anxiety and fear, until she found from his conversation with Naomi that he had escaped as a fugitive from the Roman camp, and not come as an emissary from the centurion. And when she heard the story of his wanderings, and knew how long a period had elapsed since he left the camp, though relieved from the dread of being recalled from Jerusalem, she again felt anxious and surprised at her brother's long silence, and feared that his messengers must have been unfaithful, or that his letters had been intercepted by the way. While she was minutely interrogating Javan concerning her father and brother, Zadok drew the rabbi aside, and communicated to him his reasons for consenting to keep secret from the zealous young Pharisee the fact of his sister's conversion to Christianity and with some difficulty he obtained Joazer's concurrence to the plan. The fanatical rabbi burned to disclose the whole story of Naomi's crimes to her brother; for he fully anticipated that he should then have Javan's support and assistance in bringing about those harsh measures which he had vainly pressed upon her parents, as most likely to conduce to her restoration. It was therefore with a bad grace that he agreed to allow a further period for the trial of gentle treatment, and consented to meet and converse with the delinquent, in the presence of her brother, with the same freedom and cordiality that had marked his manner towards her in former days. These two learned but mistaken men then rejoined the party, and listened with considerable interest to Javan's account of the forces and discipline of the Roman army, and also to as much as he thought proper to disclose of Simon's projects. He had left his adopted leader in Idumea, and had entered Jerusalem as a spy upon the Zealot party. His design was to incline as many of the influential men as he could induce to listen to him, to invite Simon into the city, and make him their chief, in opposition to John of Gischala, and when he considered affairs in a proper state for the appearance of the son of Gioras at the gates of Jerusalem, he had promised to send him intelligence by a trusty messenger, or himself to go into Idumea, and summon him to be the deliverer of his country.
The greater part of these schemes Javan kept profoundly secret; and after he had lauded the courage and the zeal of Simon, and expatiated on his patriotism and his fitness to take the command of the Jewish forces, as successor to the captive Josephus, he turned the conversation to his own personal adventures and dangers, since he had escaped from the Roman camp. His sufferings and privations had frequently been very severe, as he was compelled to lurk among rocks and uninhabited wildernesses for several days together, for fear of falling into the hands of his enemies. In the village of Bethezob, in Peræa, he had found a refuge for some time, at the dwelling of Mary, the daughter of Eleazar, who was a near relation of his mother's, and with whom he had become acquainted during her temporary residence in Jerusalem some years before. She was a woman of great wealth, and lived on the estates which she had inherited from her father, in a style of magnificence and luxury. Her attendants and domestics formed a numerous retinue; and her influence in the neighbourhood was so great, that when Placidus, shortly after Javan's visit to his relative, ravaged the district of Peræa, he deemed it prudent to leave the noble lady unmolested, in the hope that his moderation might induce her to favour the Roman party.
Javan informed his parents that he had endeavoured to persuade Mary to remove, with her only child and all her movable wealth, to the metropolis for security, before the Roman army should enter Peræa; but she had refused to do so at that time, as she felt convinced that with the comparatively small body of troops which Placidus had under his command, he would not attempt the subjugation of the province. Her conjectures had proved false, and the Roman general had not long afterwards carried his conquering arms through the whole region. Mary had however remained in safety on her own territory; and when, some time subsequent to his first visit, Javan had again found it necessary to retreat to Peræa, to avoid the wild bands who, under their leader Simon, were ravaging Idumea, he found her meadows and orchards as fertile and uninjured as when he saw them before the descent of Placidus. The lady of Bethezob had, however, been so much alarmed at the destruction which the Romans had effected in the surrounding country, that she told Javan she had resolved to abandon her estates and retire with her family into Jerusalem, to await in the security of its walls and battlements, the termination of the war. Better had it been for the wealthy daughter of Eleazar to have remained near her native village, subject to all the chances and the dangers of an invading army, than to join the inhabitants of Zion, and share in all the sorrows and sufferings and revolting crimes to which the long-protracted siege at length drove this most desperate and enduring people!
Convent at Santa Saba