In it, that he
might be the better seen, stood a young man, tall, ruddy-faced, and clad
in royal attire, who looked downward as though from bashfulness, but
all the while scanned the crowd out of the corners of his dim blue eyes
shaded by lids devoid of lashes. For a moment Miriam felt those eyes
rest upon her, and knew that she was the subject of some jest which
their owner addressed to the exquisite charioteer, causing him to laugh.
Then a horror of that man took hold of her, and when he had gone by,
bowing in answer to the shouts of the people, who, as it seemed to her,
cheered from fear and not with joy, she asked Julia who he might be.
"Who but Domitian," she answered, "the son of one Caesar and the brother
of another, who hates both and would like to wear their crown. He is
an evil man, and if he should chance to cross your path, beware of him,
Miriam."
Miriam shuddered and said:
"As well, mother, might you bid the mouse that is caught abroad to
beware of the cat it meets at night."
"Some mice find holes that cats cannot pass," answered Julia with
meaning as they turned their faces homeward.
During all this time, although Gallus made diligent inquiry among the
soldiers who arrived from Judaea, Miriam could hear nothing of Marcus, so
that at last she came to believe that he must be dead, and with him the
beloved and faithful Nehushta, and to hope that if this were so she
also might be taken.
Pages:
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402