of a certain
holy tribune of the people?'

'Infamous!'

'And dangerous, my dear lady. Success is inspiriting.... and Theon's
house is quite as easily sacked, as the Jews' quarter.... Beware.'

'Come, come, Aben-Ezra,' cried the young men; 'you are far too good
company for us to lose you for that rascally patriarch's fancy. We will
make a subscription for you, eh? And you shall live with each of us,
month and month about. We shall quite lose the trick of joking without
you.'

'Thank you, gentlemen. But really you have been my butts far too long
for me to think of becoming yours. Madam, one word in private before I
go.'

Hypatia leant forward, and speaking in Syriac, whispered hurriedly--

'Oh, stay, sir, I beseech you: You are the wisest of my pupils--perhaps
my only true pupil.... My father will find some concealment for you from
these wretches; and if you need money, remember, he is your debtor. We
have never repaid you the gold which--'

'Fairest Muse, that was but my entrance-fee to Parnassus. It is I who
am in your debt; and I have brought my arrears, in the form of this
opal ring. As for shelter near you,' he went on, lowering his voice, and
speaking like her, in Syriac--'Hypatia the Gentile is far too lovely
for the peace of mind of Raphael the Jew.' And he drew from his finger
Miriam's ring and offered it.

'Impossible!'said Hypatia, blushing scarlet: 'I cannot accept it.'

'I beseech you. It is the last earthly burden I have, except this
snail's prison of flesh and blood. My dagger will open a crack through
that when it becomes intolerable. But as I do not intend to leave my
shell, if I can help it, except just when and how I choose, and as, if
I take this ring with me, some of Heraclian's Circumcellions will
assuredly knock my brains out for the sake of it-I must entreat.'

'Never! Can you not sell the ring, and escape to Synesius? He will give
you shelter.'

'The hospitable hurricane! Shelter, yes; but rest, none. As soon pitch
my tent in the crater of Aetna. Why, he will be trying day and night to
convert me to that eclectic farrago of his, which he calls philosophic
Christianity. Well, if you will not have the ring, it is soon disposed
of. We Easterns know how to be magnificent, and vanish as the lords of
the world ought.'

And he turned to the philosophic crowd.

'Here, gentlemen of Alexandria! Does any gay youth wish to pay his
debts once and for all?--Behold the Rainbow of Solomon, an opa