It was a different Amaryllis that the pretended Philadelphus faced

now, from the one who had welcomed him on his arrival in Jerusalem

months ago. Then she had been so cold and self-contained that it would

have been effrontery to discuss her hopes with her. Now, with the

avarice of love in her eyes, with wishfulness and defeat making their

sorry signs on her face, she was a creature that even the humblest

would have longed to help.

Philadelphus sat opposite her in the ivory chair which was hers by

right. She sat in the exedra and listened eagerly to the things he

said with her finger-tips on her lips and her eyes gazing from under

her brow as her head drooped.

She had ceased long ago to debate idly on the actual identity of the

man who had called himself Hesper of Ephesus. There was another

question that absorbed her. Of late, it had been brought home to her

that the charm of Laodice for the stranger from Ephesus, to whom the

Greek knew the girl had fled, had been her purity. Why should it

matter so much about virtue? she had asked herself. Why should it

weigh so immeasurably more than the noble gifts of wit and beauty and

strength and charm? Behold, she was wise enough to educate a barbarous

nation, beautiful enough to bewitch potentates--for a time--strong

enough to take a city; yet Hesper, who best of all could appreciate

the value of these things, had turned from her to Laodice, who was

merely chaste.

The greater part of the jealous and bitter passion that had shaken her

then was dumb regret that the measure of charm was so irrational--and

that she had not believed in it, in time, in time!

Now, however, since she had become convinced that Laodice had gone to

Hesper for refuge, hope had awakened in her, but so filled with

uncertainty and lack of confidence in another's weakness that it was

little more than a torture to her.

If Laodice had gone to this winsome stranger, either claiming to be

the wife of Philadelphus or acknowledging the imposture, there was now

no difference between Laodice and herself!

But, she asked herself, was it not possible that this lovely girl who

had shown signs of illimitable fortitude, could live in the shelter of

the captivating Hesper as uprightly as she had lived under the roof of

the man she called her husband?

In one exigency, the hopes of Amaryllis budded; in the other, her

intuitive belief in the strength of Laodice discouraged her. And while

she alternately hoped and doubted, Philadelphus, in the chair opposite

her, talked.

"It follows that you and I must work together to gain diverse ends. If

our fortunes are to be tragic, we are undoing each other in this

conjunction. Since I in all frankness prefer it to turn out comedy,

let us make no error. Are you weary of John? Do you seek a new

diversion?"




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