"
"Why should you ask my pardon, grandfather? Seeing things as they see
them, the sentence is just enough. I am a Christian, and--if you would
know it--I did, as I hope, save the life of Marcus, for which deed my
own is forfeit."
"How?" he asked.
"That, grandfather, I will not tell you."
"Tell me, and save yourself. There is little chance that they will take
him, since the Jews have been driven from the Old Tower."
"The Jews might re-capture the tower, and I will not tell you. Also, the
lives of others are at stake, of my friends who have sheltered me, and
who, as I trust, will now shelter him."
"Then you must die, and by this death of shame, for I am powerless to
save you. Yes, you must die tied to a pinnacle of the gateway, a mockery
to friend and foe. Why, if it had not been that I still have some
authority among them, and that you are of my blood, girl though you be,
they would have crucified you upon the wall, serving you as the Romans
serve our people."
"If it pleases God that I should die, I shall die. What is one life
among so many tens of thousands? Let us talk of other things while we
have time."
"What is there to talk of, Miriam, save misery, misery, misery?" and
again he groaned.
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