"What for?"
"To give evidence in a trial," they said.
Then he knew that he had made no mistake, that his rival was caught, and
in the rage of his burning jealousy, such jealousy as only an Eastern
can feel, his heart bounded with joy. Still, as he trudged onward
through streets glittering in the morning sunlight, Caleb's conscience
told him that not thus should this rival be overcome, that he who went
to accuse the brave Marcus of cowardice was himself a coward, and that
from the lie which he was about to act if not to speak, could spring no
fruit of peace or happiness. But he was mad and blind. He could think
only of Miriam--the woman whom he loved with all his passionate nature
and whose life he had preserved at the risk of his own--fallen at last
into the arms of his rival. He would wrench her thence, yes, even at the
price of his own honour and of her life-long agony, and, if it might be,
leave those arms cold in death, as often already he had striven to do.
When Marcus was dead perhaps she would forgive him. At the least he
would occupy his place. She would be his slave, to whom, notwithstanding
all that had been, he would give the place of wife. Then, after a little
while, seeing how good and tender he was to her, surely she must forget
this Roman who had taken her girlish fancy and learn to love him.
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