Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider), 1856-1925 / 2008-06-13 00:00:00
EBOOK PEARL-MAIDEN ***
Produced by John Bickers; Dagny
PEARL-MAIDEN
A Tale Of The Fall of Jerusalem
By H. Rider Haggard
First Published 1901.
TO
GLADYS CHRISTIAN
A DWELLER IN THE EAST THIS EASTERN TALE IS DEDICATED BY HER OWN AND HER
FATHER'S FRIEND
THE AUTHOR
Ditchingham: September 14, 1902.
PEARL-MAIDEN
CHAPTER I
THE PRISON AT CAESAREA
It was but two hours after midnight, yet many were wakeful in Caesarea on
the Syrian coast. Herod Agrippa, King of all Palestine--by grace of
the Romans--now at the very apex of his power, celebrated a festival in
honour of the Emperor Claudius, to which had flocked all the mightiest
in the land and tens of thousands of the people. The city was full of
them, their camps were set upon the sea-beach and for miles around;
there was no room at the inns or in the private houses, where guests
slept upon the roofs, the couches, the floors, and in the gardens. The
great town hummed like a hive of bees disturbed after sunset, and though
the louder sounds of revelling had died away, parties of feasters,
many of them still crowned with fading roses, passed along the
streets shouting and singing to their lodgings. As they went, they
discussed--those of them who were sufficiently sober--the incidents of
that day's games in the great circus, and offered or accepted odds upon
the more exciting events of the morrow.
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