before I have done with it, mine will
be. At present I cannot boast that this is so, who, unless it should
please my uncle Caius to decease and leave me the great fortune he
squeezes out of the Spaniards--neither of which things he shows any
present intention of doing--am but a soldier of fortune: an officer
under the command of the excellent and most noble procurator Albinus,"
he added sarcastically. "For the rest," he went on, "I have spent a
year in this interesting and turbulent but somewhat arid land of
yours, coming here from Egypt, and am now honoured with a commission
to investigate and make report on a charge laid at the door of your
virtuous guardians, the Essenes, of having murdered, or been privy to
the murder of, a certain rascally Jew, who, as I understand, was sent
with others to steal their goods. That, lady, is my style and history.
By way of exchange, will you be pleased to tell me yours?"

Miriam hesitated, not being sure whether she should enter on such
confidences at so short a notice. Thereon, Nehushta, who was untroubled
by doubts, and thought it politic to be quite open with this Roman, a
man in authority, answered for her.

"Lord, this maiden, whose servant I am, as I was that of her grandmother
and mother before her----"

"Surely you cannot be so old," interrupted Marcus. He made it a rule to
be polite to all women, whatever their colour, having noticed that life
went more easily with those who were courteous to the sex.

Nehushta smiled a little as she answered--for at what age does a woman
learn to despise a compliment?--"Lord, they both died young"; then
repeated, "This maiden is the only child of the high-born Graeco-Syrian
of Tyre, Demas, and his noble wife, Rachel----"

"I know Tyre," he interrupted. "I was quartered there till two months
ago"; adding in a different tone, "I understand that this pair no longer
live."

"They died," said Nehushta sadly, "the father in the amphitheatre at
Berytus by command of the first Agrippa, and the mother when her child
was born."

"In the amphitheatre at Berytus? Was he then a malefactor?"

"No, sir," broke in Miriam proudly; "he was a Christian."

"Oh! I understand. Well, they are ill-spoken of as enemies of the human
race, but for my part I have had to do with several Christians and found
them very good people, though visionary in their views." Here a doubt
struck him and he said, "But, lady, I understand that you are an
Essene."

"Nay,