Well, you will not fly, either with me or without me?"
"No, I will not fly."
"Then the time is here, and, having no choice, I must do my duty,
leaving the rest to fate. If, perchance, I can rescue you afterwards, I
will, but do not hope for such a thing."
"Caleb, I neither hope nor fear. Henceforth I struggle no more. I am in
other hands than yours, or those of the Jews, and as They fashion the
clay so shall it be shaped. Now, will you bind me?"
"I have no such command. Come forth if it pleases you, the officers wait
without. Had you wished to be rescued, I should have taken the path on
which my friends await us. Now we must go another."
"So be it," said Miriam, "but first give me that jar of water, for my
throat is parched."
He lifted it to her lips and she drank deeply. Then they went. Outside
the cloister four men were waiting, two of them those doorkeepers who
had searched her in the morning, the others soldiers.
"You have been a long while with the pretty maid, master," said one of
them to Caleb. "Have you been receiving confession of her sins?"
"I have been trying to receive confession of the hiding-place of the
Roman, but the witch is obstinate," he answered, glaring angrily at
Miriam.
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