The City of Delight

"Where," she asked coldly, "is he who was with you at Emmaus?"

The pretender started a little, but the increase of alarm on his face

showed that he realized next that here was a peril in this woman which

he had overlooked.

"Gone," he said unreadily, "gone back to Ephesus."

She did not know what pain this announcement of that winsome

stranger's desertion would waken in her heart. Her eyes fell; her

brows lifted a little; the corners of her mouth became pathetic. The

pretender, casting a sidelong glance at her, saw to his own safety

that she had believed him.

"He was a parasite," he sighed, "living off my bounty. But even that

did not invite him when he neared the peril of this city. So he turned

back. I--I do not blame him," he added with a little laugh.

"Blame him?" she said quickly. "You--you do not blame him?"

"No! Any place, any condition is more desirable than residence in

Jerusalem at this hour."

"If one seeks but to be comfortable. But here is a place for work and

for achievement," she declared.

"Too desperate an extreme. Nothing can be done here," he observed,

shrugging his shoulders.

She gazed at him with immense contempt.

"That from a son of Judas Maccabaeus!" she exclaimed.

He looked disconcerted.

"Why not?" he urged. "It is neither rational nor practical to attempt

the impossible. Jerusalem is doomed. I would but add myself to the

sacrifice did I interfere between destruction and its sure prey."

After a silence in which she confronted him with many emotions showing

on her face, she said with infinite pity and disappointment: "O Philadelphus, you to throw greatness away!"

"Where, O my mysterious genius, are my army, my engines, my

subsistence, my advantage and the prize?"

"What was that dowry which was stolen from me to purchase for you but

these things? I brought it for this purpose. Another than myself

delivered it to you; the end is achieved; what use will you make of

it?"

"There is no nation here for that dowry to defend, no crown for it to

support. But for this same madness which possesses my lady, the

princess, I should depart this day for a safer venture, in some safer

country!"

She faced him intently.

"And you will do nothing for Judea?" she asked.

"What can be done?" he asked, throwing out his hands with a careless

gesture.

"Oh," she exclaimed with a rush of passionate feeling, "that I were

you! You, with the materials for empire-building at your feet! You,

with the hour beseeching you, with a people searching for you, with a

treasury filled for you, with ancient prophecy establishing you,

ancient precept teaching you, and the cause of God arming you!

Philadelphus, son of a great patriot, what are you saying! What can

there be done! Oh rather, how dare you not do! What have you about you

but the inevitable end of Judah, living contrary to God's plan for it!

It is the conscience of Israel rising against its sin and submission!

It is the blood of David rebelling against the heathen yoke! It is the

hour foretold by Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and the

Twelve, when Israel shall repent and be chastened and return to the

heritage of Jacob. Be the repairer of the breach! Be the restorer of

the paths to dwell in, my husband! Go out and let Israel behold you!

Help them to wipe out the shame of Babylonia and Persia and Macedonia

and Rome! Make Jerusalem not only a sanctuary but a capital! Restore

the glory of David and the peace of Solomon, for those were God's days

and Judah can not prosper except as it returns to them!

Philadelphus--"