he was meant for this! The thought was unbearable;
it turned her giddy. No! she would not! She would rebel! Like
Prometheus, she would dare destiny, and brave its worst! And she sprang
up to recall the letter.... Miriam was gone; and she threw herself on
the floor, and wept bitterly.

And her peace of mind would certainly not have been improved, could she
have seen old Miriam hurry home with her letter to a dingy house in the
Jews' quarter, where it was un-sealed, read, and sealed up again with
such marvellous skill, that no eye could have detected the change; and
finally, still less would she have been comforted could she have heard
the conversation which was going on in a summer-room of Orestes' palace,
between that illustrious statesman and Raphael Aben-Ezra, who were lying
on two divans opposite each other, whiling away, by a throw or two of
dice, the anxious moments which delayed her answer.

'Trays again! The devil is in you, Raphael!'

'I always thought he was,' answered Raphael, sweeping up the gold
pieces....

'When will that old witch be back?'

'When she has read through your letter and Hypatia's answer.'

'Read them?'

'Of course. You don't fancy she is going to be fool enough to carry a
message without knowing what it is? Don't be angry; she won't tell.
She would give one of those two grave-lights there, which she calls her
eyes, to see the thing prosper.'

'Why?'

'Your excellency will know when the letter comes. Here she is; I hear
steps in the cloister. Now, one bet before they enter. I give you two to
one she asks you to turn pagan.'

'What in? Negro-boys?'

'Anything you like.'

'Taken. Come in, slaves?'

And Hypocorisma entered, pouting.

'That Jewish fury is outside with a letter, and has the impudence to say
she won't let me bring it in!'

'Bring her in then. Quick!'

'I wonder what I am here for, if people have secrets that I am not to
know,' grumbled the spoilt youth.

'Do you want a blue ribbon round those white sides of yours, you
monkey?' answered Orestes. 'Because, if you do, the hippopotamus hide
hangs ready outside.'

'Let us make him kneel down here for a couple of hours, and use him as a
dice-board,' said Raphael, 'as you used to do to the girls in Armenia.'

'Ah, you recollect that?--and how the barbarian papas used to grumble,
till I had to crucify one or two, eh? That was something like life! I
love those out-of-the-way stations, where nobody asks questions: bu