“The dauntless champion of the Jews!” he repeated bitterly. “I wonder sometimes if the Jews are worth championing. Where is the grand spirit of unity and discipline which held together the nation of old? Quarrellings, bickerings, murmurings, grumbling at every semblance of authority, one striving to out-do the other; that is what one has to contend with in these days. Oh, how I long to throw it all up, to let them go their own way, and end the struggle by the survival of the fittest! How I long to escape with you to some quiet little spot, where we might live in peace and quiet happiness with our child. Since all these people are selfish, why should not I be selfish too? The temptation is so great—so great! I have not the power to withstand it!”
“But you must!” she cried, in a tense voice. “Lionel, this is unworthy of you! When the children of Israel complained and murmured in the wilderness, did Moses forsake them in disgust? Ah, no; a leader must expect to suffer by and for his people. Having put your hand to the plough, you must not look back. You have been so brave and so noble until this very day. Do not spoil your record by turning coward at the last.”
“Coward!” The word stung him like a lash. “Good God, no! But, Patricia—” He turned towards her with a gesture of appeal. “You love me? Ah, I know you do! And yet you can urge me to stick to my guns whilst you go away to live in loneliness, perhaps for the remainder of your life? I cannot understand it.... Is this love?”
“Yes, of the truest kind,” she answered, her deep eyes glistening with tears. “‘I could not love thee, dear, so much, loved I not honour more.’ Do you think I’m not longing to say, ‘Come with me to the other end of the world, and leave these people to look after themselves’? But I must not, I dare not! Your duty lies in Palestine, and here you must stay. I know that when you are your old self again, you will say that I was right.”
“Of course you are right; but I am not of the self-sacrificing sort. I wouldn’t mind going under fire and having a bullet put through my head for my country’s sake—that’s soon over; but I don’t like having the agony prolonged.” He flung himself on to a chair, and added, in a different voice: “What of the child? My mother will never free you from your promise to have him brought up as a Jew. She will do her utmost to retain him in her custody. You must not let him go back to Haifa if you wish to keep him with you. Possession is nine points of the law.”
She shuddered. “It is terrible to have to use force in the matter. Surely Lady Montella will not object to my having him with me while he is so young? I am his mother, and his place is with me. Afterwards, when he is grown up, it will be a different matter; but now—”
She covered her face with her hands, unable to finish the sentence. She knew even while she spoke that she would have to drink her cup of bitterness to the dregs. To part with her husband was terrible enough; yet they would both have the consciousness of having done their duty to sustain them. But in the case of her child it was different, since there was no such urgent necessity. She knew that if Lady Montella succeeded in keeping him from her, her last ray of comfort would be gone.
CHAPTER XI
FAREWELL!
Ben Yetzel was not slow to act on his discovery. The news of Lady Patricia’s secession spread with lightning rapidity, and in two days every one in Palestine who had the slightest connection with Lionel Montella was aware of it. In these days of liberty it is difficult to understand the importance of such an event, but in the eyes of the Palestinian Jews it was of the greatest consequence. That the Governor’s wife was not of Jewish birth had always been a drawback in their eyes, but that she should openly profess the Christian Faith was unendurable. Her return to Haifa, therefore, was practically out of the question, and she decided to leave with the Princess at the end of the week.
And then came the dispute about the child. Lady Montella was up in arms at the suggestion that he should accompany his mother to Europe; and arrived in Jerusalem in hot haste, or at least as soon as the boat and train would bring her. She said very little to her daughter-in-law, and maintained a distinctly cold demeanour; but she spoke her mind freely to her son, whose filial respect was sadly tried.