"Javan, if blood be your object, shed mine: I am a Roman maid, allied to your bitterest enemies. But seek not to take the life of your countryman, your relative, and the ornament of your house."
The stranger was startled, but he spoke not. He wished not to confirm the suspicions of Claudia, by letting her hear his voice, but seizing her arm, he flung her aside; and as Theophilus caught her and prevented her from falling to the ground, he aimed a blow at his shoulder, and inflicted a wound that entirely disabled him. The blood flowed over the dress of Claudia, and all her sudden courage forsook her. She fainted away, and Theophilus was forced to relinquish her to the care of Naomi, and endeavour feebly to defend himself from the assaults of Javan. Meanwhile the chamber of death had become the scene of a furious conflict. The servants of Amaziah fought valiantly against a superior force, to defend their master and his family; while their foes endeavoured to secure them captives, and not to take their lives. Amaziah and Theophilus loudly called on the women to escape from the house by the back entrance, while they kept the assailants at bay; but Claudia's helpless condition, and anxiety for the fate of their defenders, kept them in the room. They stood by the bed of the lifeless Mary, on which they had laid Claudia also, now apparently as inanimate as their departed friend, and utterly unconscious of all that was going-on around her. Perhaps it was well for her that she was so, though she only awaked to a sense of utter misery.
The attacks of Javan and his comrade were evidently directed principally towards Theophilus; and at length while his father and the servants were occupied with the rest of the band, they succeeded in securing him, exhausted as he was with exertion and loss of blood. They hastily bound him with a strong rope, and endeavoured to drag him from the house by the back entrance, near which they had seized and overpowered him; but Naomi saw their intent, and loudly calling to her uncle for aid she flew to her cousin, and rendered desperate by excitement and alarm, she employed her strength so well as to impede the design of Javan, and enable Amaziah to come to the rescue Judith and Hannah stood in the way, and sought to close and bolt the door; but what could the efforts of weak and terrified women avail against the power and resolution of a band of armed and cruel men? Several of Amaziah's servants were bounded, and those who were not disabled could no longer maintain the unequal contest. They saw that their master was in danger of being made a prisoner as well as Theophilus, and they exerted all their courage and strength for his preservation and that of his son. The struggle was violent and well maintained; but alas! the faithful domestics only succeeded in disengaging Amaziah from the grasp of the ruffians, and Theophilus was borne away. His father would have followed the retreating steps of the ruffians, but his servants forcibly detained him, as they were convinced that such an attempt would only lead to his own capture; and in grief and horror the afflicted family stood by the corpse of Mary and the senseless form of Claudia, to consider what steps should be taken for the safety of the unhappy Theophilus.
To hasten back to the city, and employ all their influence with Zadok and his powerful friends, was the first impulse; but what could they do with Claudia, in her present helpless state, or how should they inform her of the calamity which had befallen them all? While they prepared some rude contrivance to carry her with them, she revived, and her first words were to inquire for Theophilus.
"He is gone to the city, my daughter," replied Judith; "and there I hope we shall soon see him safe and free."
"But he was wounded," said Claudia, confusedly: "I felt the warm blood flow on my cheek. Why is he gone away? he would not have left me senseless. But I remember now—oh, the dreadful truth comes over my brain! Javan has forced him away, and Javan will destroy him. I always knew that he would bring desolation into my heart; and it is done!"
A flood of tears somewhat relieved her bursting grief, and then she wildly sprang up, and cried,
"But why do we tarry here? Come, Naomi, we will fly to the city, and with my dear adopted parents, we will kneel and weep at Javan's feet until we melt even his heart of stone. Farewell, dear sainted Mary! It is well that your eyes were closed in death before this blow fell on those you loved so much—and oh! if my eyes are not again to behold Theophilus, I would that they had never opened from the trance that spared me the sight of his defeat!"
Thus passionately did the unhappy girl give vent to her feelings; and to her disposition it was a relief to do so. Meanwhile Amaziah gave some hasty directions to Hannah concerning the burial of the deceased, and promised to send some of his domestics, who were of the same holy religion, to assist her in performing it as secretly as possible at break of day, and if possible to attend himself. He feared that the priests might hear of her death, and send to seize on her corpse, that they might bury it according to their own ceremonies; and therefore he desired two of the servants who had attended him that evening to remain with Hannah, and prepare a humble grave for her beloved mistress, in the large and well-planted garden belonging to the house. He further desired Hannah to linger no longer in that dwelling, after the last duties had been paid to Mary, but to accompany his servants to Jerusalem, and take up her abode with him and his family, until his son could be liberated, when she should travel with them to Ephesus, and find a refuge and a home wherever they should dwell.
The afflicted family then left the house, and by the light of the torches with which they were provided, they bent their way towards the city. They were startled on entering the public road to perceive a band of men, also carrying lighted torches, approaching towards them, and for a moment they supposed that it was Javan returning to make a fresh attack; but the voice of their friend Benjamin speedily reassured them, and they hastened to communicate to him the death of Mary, and the subsequent calamitous event. It was now no longer necessary for the kind-hearted Benjamin to proceed to Mary's house, and he therefore insisted on joining his body of attendants to that of Amaziah, and conducting him and his family safe to their home; and in the litter which had been destined to carry the departed Christian, he placed Claudia, whose weakness made her almost incapable of proceeding on foot. Naomi and Judith walked beside her, and sought by every argument they could find to calm her agitation, and persuade her that there was every reason to hope for the speedy relief of Theophilus. Perhaps they appeared more sanguine than they really felt; but they could hardly believe that if it had actually been Javan who had thus deprived his cousin of liberty, he would refuse to listen to the entreaties of his family, or to be moved by the sorrow which he had brought upon them. It seemed too cruel even for Javan, to deliver his kinsman into the hands of those who would count his murder a meritorious act; and therefore they tried to believe that he only intended to detain them all in Jerusalem, until he had further ascertained their conversion to Christianity, and endeavoured to shake their faith by his arguments, and perhaps his threats.