esire
to disclose everything to him. Nowhere but in church, in the very
presence of the Redeemer, could she bring herself to allow him to read
her heart as it were an open book. A voice had warned her that in the
house of God alone, could she find salvation for herself and her son;
that voice she heard day and night, and much as it pained her to grieve
him he must hear it now--: That voice never ceased to enjoin her to tear
asunder his connection with the Melchite maiden. Last evening it had
seemed to her that it was her eldest son, who had died for the Jacobite
faith, that was speaking to her. The voice had sounded like his, and it
had warned her that the ancient house of Menas must perish, if a Melchite
should taint the pure blood of their race. And Benjamin had confirmed her
fears; he had come back to her on purpose to beseech her to oppose
Orion's sinful affection for Thomas' daughter with the utmost maternal
authority, and, as the patriarch expressed the same desire as the voice,
it must be from God and she must obey it.

Her old grudge against Paula had revived, and her very tones betrayed
that it grew stronger with every word she spoke which had any reference
to the girl.

At this Orion begged her to be calm, reminding her of the promise she had
made him by his father's deathbed; and just as his mother was about to
reply in a tone of pitiful recrimination, the chariot stopped at the door
of the church. He did everything in his power to soothe her; his gentle
and tender tones comforted her, and she nodded to him more happily,
following him into the sanctuary.

Beyond the narthex--the vestibule of the church, where three penitents
were flaying their backs with scourges by the side of a small marble
fountain, and in full view of the crowd--they were forced to part, as the
women were divided from the men by a screen of finely-carved woodwork.

As Neforis went to her place, she shook her bowed head: she was
meditating on the choice offered her by Orion, of yielding to the
patriarch's commands or to her son's wishes. How gladly would she have
seen her son in bright spirits again. But Benjamin had threatened her
with the loss of all the joys of Heaven, if she should agree to Orion's
alliance with the heretic--and the joys of Heaven to her meant a meeting,
a recognition, for which she would willingly have sacrificed her son and
everything else that was dear to her heart.

Orion assisted at the service in the place r