e to be warned?"

"Of a plot--I know that there is a plot--against her among the monks and
parabolani. As I lay in bed this morning in Arsenius' room they thought
I was asleep--"

"Arsenius? Has that venerable fanatic, then, gone the way of all
monastic flesh, and turned persecutor?"

"God forbid! I heard him beseeching Peter, the reader, to refrain from
something, I cannot tell what; but I caught her name.... I heard Peter
say, 'She that hindereth will hinder till she be taken out of the way.'
And when he went out in the passage I heard him say to another, 'That
thou doest, do quickly!'"

"These are slender grounds, my friend."

"Ah, you do not know of what these men are capable."

"Do I not?"

"I know the hatred which they bear her, the crimes which they attribute
to her. Her house would have been attacked last night had it not been
for Cyril.... And I knew Peter's tone. He spoke too gently and softly
not to mean something devilish. I watched all the morning for an
opportunity of escape, and here I am! Will you take my message, or
see her--"

"What?"

"God only knows, and the devil whom they worship instead of God."

Raphael hurried back into the house. "Could he see Hypatia?" She had
shut herself up in her private room, strictly commanding that no visitor
should be admitted.... "Where was Theon, then?" He had gone out by the
canal gate half an hour before, and he hastily wrote on his tablet:

"Do not despise the young monk's warning. I believe him to speak the
truth. As you love yourself and your father, Hypatia, stir not out
to-day."

He bribed the maid to take the message up-stairs; and passed his time in
the hall in warning the servants. But they would not believe him. It was
true the shops were shut in some quarters, and the Museum gardens empty;
people were a little frightened after yesterday. But Cyril, they had
heard for certain, had threatened excommunication only last night to any
Christian who broke the peace; and there had not been a monk to be seen
in the streets the whole morning. And as for any harm happening to their
mistress--impossible! "The very wild beasts would not tear her," said
the huge negro porter, "if she were thrown into the amphitheater."

Whereat the maid boxed his ears for talking of such a thing: and then,
by way of mending it, declared that she knew for certain that her
mistress could turn aside the lightning and call legions of spirits to
fight for her with a nod....