not Endora_! Thou heard'st
the second shriek? The whisper of my name caused it. He shattered my
life and left me to die; but I did not die, neither will I for his
death. My line of life is not broken. I wait events.'

Saronia was speechless, and Chios quivered like a leaf on a restless
tree. Gathering strength, he staggered towards the door to breathe the
air, and the two women were left alone.

Endora felt the power of the priestess, and dared not speak.

'Hast thou told Chios who thou art? Does he know thou art his mother,
and by thine own hand thou hast slain his sire?'

'No, and the secret kills me. Oh that I could die, disappear from the
gaze of my son! Thou canst fancy my bursting soul, how my heart aches to
hear one loving word from my only child! No, no; this cannot be. Endora,
Myrtile the false, accursed, bloodstained, must never be known to Chios,
my son, my son! But when I am gone--it will not be long--when I have
finished here, tell him--tell him all, and that to the last my longing
soul yearned to behold his manly face. Tell him that a mother's
instincts, a mother's love, deadened by the curse, still dwelt within
me. Mighty Saronia, thou wilt be left to him. Give him the love which a
mother could not reveal. As I have said, I shall soon be on my great
journey--yea, before the leaves fall from the trees in autumn.

'Now to business. Intendest thou to deliver me to be weighed in the
scales of justice?'

'No. I mourn over the fatal act. 'Twas done in self-defence. I will not
interfere. Wert thou tried, no one would believe thee. I do. My betrayal
of thee would rest a murder on my own soul. The Fates must rule. Go thy
way, and render thine account in the great hereafter. The gods will
judge thee, and mete out justice. Keep thy counsel. 'Tis better none
should know who thou art. Should I outlive thee, I will tell him, and
say, blackened as thou art, cursed and full of sin, there was yet a
spark of the Divine in thee, a spark which anon shall fire and blaze and
burn the dross, and leave thee pure and unsullied as the air in which
the gods dwell.'

Chios returned within the cave. The women were silent, until the silence
was broken by the footfall of a stranger. It was Judah the Christian.

'What a strange gathering!' murmured Chios, as he went forth to meet his
friend.

Endora glided out like a panther, leaving the two men alone with the
priestess.

Saronia drew her black cloak closely around her, cov