oul, the Christian would not have paused in his
ministry.

The phantom straightened himself with a superb reinvestment of
manhood.

"Thou, son of the Maccabee, Philadelphus!" he exclaimed to the
kneeling man.

The Ephesian's arms sank.

"Who art thou that knoweth me?" he asked in a dead voice.

"I am all that plague and sin hath left of thy servant Aquila," the
phantom declared.

The Maccabee lifted his face for what should follow this revelation.
It was only a manifestation of his subjection to another will than his
own. He was not interested--he who was hoping to die.

"Hear me, and curse me!" Aquila went on. "But save thy wife yet. I say
unto thee, master, that she whom thou hast sheltered in the cavern is
thy wife, Laodice!"

The Maccabee struggled up to his feet and gazed with stunned and
unbelieving eyes at this wreck of his pagan servant, who went on
precipitately.

"Her I plotted against at the instigation of Julian of Ephesus. Her,
my mistress, Salome the Cyprian, robbed and hath impersonated thus
long to her safety in the house of the Greek. This hour, through
ignorance of thine own identity, through my fault, she hath gone
reluctantly to his arms. Curse me and let me die!"

The Maccabee seized the hair at his temples. For a moment the awful
gaze he bent upon Aquila seemed to show that the gentler spirit had
been dislodged from his heart. Then he cried:

"God help us both, Aquila! My fault was greater than thine!"

He turned and fled toward the house of the Greek.

The four legions of Titus swept after him.

Aquila lifted his eyes for the first time and gazed at Nathan.

"I cursed thee for sparing me to such an existence as was mine!
Behold, father, thou didst bless me, instead. I am ready to die."

"Wait," the Christian said peacefully.

A moment later, the Maccabee dashed into the andronitis of Amaryllis.

After him sprang a terrified servant crying:

"The Roman! The Roman is upon us!"

A roar of such magnitude that it penetrated the stone walls of
Amaryllis' house, swept in after the servant. Quaking menials began to
pour into the hall. Among them came the blue-eyed girl, the athlete
and Juventius the Swan. These three joined their mistress who stood
under a hanging lamp. Into the passage from the court, left open by
the frightened servants, swept the prolonged outcry of perishing
Jerusalem. Over it all thundered the boom of the siege-engines shaking
the earth.

The slaves slipp