rose as a bird does and fluttered with delight.

On the adjacent tiers were Greeks, fat-calved Cypriotes, Cappadocians with
flowers painted on their skin, red Egyptians, Thracian mercenaries,
Galilean fishermen, and a group of Lydians in women's clothes.

On the tier just beyond was a man gazing wistfully at the woman that sat
behind Herodias. He was tall and sinewy, handsome with the comeliness of
the East. His beard was full, unmarred at the corners; his name was Judas.
Now and then he moistened his under lip, and a Thracian who sat at his
side heard him murmur "Mary" and some words of Syro-Chaldaic which the
Thracian did not understand.

To him Mary paid no attention. She had turned from the track. An officer
had entered the tetrarch's tribune and addressed the prince. Antipas
started; Herodias colored through her paint. The latter evidently was
pleased.

"Iohanan!" she exclaimed. "To Machaerus with him! You may believe in fate
and mathematics; I believe in the axe."

And questioningly Herodias looked at her husband, who avoided her look,
yet signified his assent to the command she had given.

The din continued. From the tier beyond, Judas still gazed into the perils
of Mary's eyes.

"Dear God," he muttered, in answer to an anterior thought, "it would be
the birthday of my life."

CHAPTER II.

II.

"O Prophet Iohanan, how fair you are!"

Iohanan was hideous. His ankles were in stocks, a chain about his waist
was looped in a ring that hung from the wall. About his body were tattered
furs, his hair was tangled, the face drawn and yellow. Vermin were visible
on his person. His lips twitched, and his gums, discolored, were as those
of a camel that has journeyed too far. A tooth projected, green as a fresh
almond is; the chin projected too, and from it on one side a rill of
saliva dripped upon the naked breast. On the terrace he was a blur, a
nightmare in a garden.

"Ah, how fair!"

Tantalizing as temptation, Mary stood just beyond his reach. Her eyes were
full of compliments, her body was bent, and, the folds of her gown held
back, she swayed a little, in the attitude of one cajoling a tiger. She
was quite at home and at her ease, and yet prepared for instant flight.

Iohanan, or John--surnamed, because of practices of his, the
Baptist--beckoned her to approach. In his eyes was the innocence that oxen
have.

"My body is chai