Then he was a stout and hale old man, although
pale-faced from dwelling in the darkness. From that journey he had not
returned. Some said that he had fled to the country, others that he had
gone over to the Romans, and yet others that he had been slain by some
of Simon's men. Now she found him thus!
Miriam came and bent over him.
"Master," she said, "what ails you? How came you here?"
He turned his hollow, vacant eyes upon her face.
"Who is it that speaks to me thus gently?" he asked in a feeble voice.
"I, your ward, Miriam."
"Miriam! Miriam! What does Miriam in this torture-den?"
"Master, I am a prisoner. But speak of yourself."
"There is little to say, Miriam. They caught me, those devils, and
seeing that I was still well-fed and strong, although sunk in years,
demanded to know whence I had my food in this city of starvation. To
tell them would have been to give up our secret and to bring doom upon
the brethren, and upon you, our guest and lady. I refused to answer,
so, having tortured me without avail, they cast me in here to starve,
thinking that hunger would make me speak. But I have not spoken. How
could I, who have taken the oath of the Essenes, and been their ruler?
Now at length I die.
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