hat oath I hold. If he
kills me, you may wed him. If I kill him, you need not wed me unless you
so desire. But this fight is to the death, yes, whether you live or die,
it is still to the death as between me and him. Do you understand?"

"Your words are very plain, Caleb, but this is a strange hour to choose
to speak them, seeing that, for aught I know, Marcus is already
dead, and that within some short time I shall be dead, and that death
threatens you and all within this Temple."

"Yet we live, Miriam, and I believe that for none of the three of us is
the end at hand. Well, you will not fly, either with me or without me?"

"No, I will not fly."

"Then the time is here, and, having no choice, I must do my duty,
leaving the rest to fate. If, perchance, I can rescue you afterwards, I
will, but do not hope for such a thing."

"Caleb, I neither hope nor fear. Henceforth I struggle no more. I am in
other hands than yours, or those of the Jews, and as They fashion the
clay so shall it be shaped. Now, will you bind me?"

"I have no such command. Come forth if it pleases you, the officers wait
without. Had you wished to be rescued, I should have taken the path on
which my friends await us. Now we must go another."

"So be it," said Miriam, "but first give me that jar of water, for my
throat is parched."

He lifted it to her lips and she drank deeply. Then they went. Outside
the cloister four men were waiting, two of them those doorkeepers who
had searched her in the morning, the others soldiers.

"You have been a long while with the pretty maid, master," said one of
them to Caleb. "Have you been receiving confession of her sins?"

"I have been trying to receive confession of the hiding-place of the
Roman, but the witch is obstinate," he answered, glaring angrily at
Miriam.

"She will soon change her tune on the gateway, master, where the nights
are cold and the day is hot for those who have neither cloaks for their
backs nor water for their stomachs. Come on, Blue Eyes, but first give
me that necklet of pearls, which may serve to buy a bit of bread or a
drink of wine," and he thrust his filthy hand into her breast.

Next instant a sword flashed in the red light of the evening to fall
full on the ruffian's skull, and down he went dead or dying.

"Brute," said Caleb with an angry snarl, "go to seek bread and wine in
Gehenna. The maid is doomed to death, not to be plundered by such as
you. Come forward."

The com