Also she told him tales and legends,
and when she had done Nehushta told others--wild stories of Libya, some
of them very dark and bloody, others of magic, black or white. Thus
these afternoons passed happily enough, and the clay model being
finished, after the masons among the brethren had rough hewn it for her,
Miriam began to fashion it in marble.
There was one, however, for whom these days did not pass happily--Caleb.
From the time that he had seen Miriam walking side by side with Marcus
he hated the brilliant-looking Roman in whom, his instinct warned him,
he had found a dangerous rival. Oh, how he hated him! So much, indeed,
that even in the moment of first meeting he could not keep his rage and
envy in his heart, but suffered them to be written on his face, and
to shine like danger signals in his eyes, which, it may be remembered,
Marcus did not neglect to note.
Of Miriam Caleb had seen but little lately. She was not angry with him,
since his offence was of a nature which a woman can forgive, but in
her heart she feared him. Of a sudden, as it were, the curtain had been
drawn, and she had seen this young man's secret spirit and learned that
it was a consuming fire. It had come home to her that every word he
spoke was true, that he who was orphaned and not liked even by the
gentle elders of the Essenes, loved but one being upon earth--herself,
whereas already his bosom seethed with many hates.
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