Part 32 (1/2)

'I will go this moment' sir; I will fly!' and off rushed the little porter.

'The little fellow forgets,' said a.r.s.enius, with a smile, 'to how much he has confessed already, and how easy it were now to trace him to the old hag's lair.... Philammon, my son.... I have many tears to weep over thee-but they must wait a while, I have thee safe now,' and the old man clutched his arm. 'Thou wilt not leave thy poor old father? Thou wilt not desert me for the heathen woman?'

'I will stay with you, I promise you, indeed! if-if you will not say unjust things of her.'

'I will speak evil of no one, accuse no one, but myself. I will not say one harsh word to thee, my poor boy. But listen now! Thou knowest that thou camest from Athens. Knowest thou that it was I who brought thee hither?'

'You?'

'I, my son: but when I brought thee to the Laura, it seemed right that thou, as the son of a n.o.ble gentleman, shouldest hear nothing of it. But tell me: dost thou recollect father or mother, brother or sister; or anything of thy home in Athens?'

'No.'

'Thanks be to G.o.d. But, Philammon, if thou hadst had a sister-hus.h.!.+ And if-I only say if-,

'A sister!' interrupted Philammon. 'Pelagia?'

'G.o.d forbid, my son! But a sister thou hadst once-some three years older than thee she seemed.'

'What! did you know her?'

'I saw her but once-on one sad day.-Poor children both! I will not sadden you by telling you where and how.'

'And why did you not bring her hither with me? You surely had not the heart to part us?'

'Ah, my son, what right had an old monk with a fair young girl? And, indeed, even had I had the courage, it would have been impossible. There were others, richer than I, to whose covetousness her youth and beauty seemed a precious prize. When I saw her last, she was in company with an ancient Jewess. Heaven grant that this Miriam may prove to be the one!'

'And I have a sister!' gasped Philammon, his eyes bursting with tears. 'We must find her! You will help me?-Now-this moment! There is nothing else to be thought of, spoken of, done, henceforth, till she is found!'

'Ah, my son, my son! Better, better, perhaps, to leave her in the hands of G.o.d! What if she were dead? To discover that, would be to discover needless sorrow. And what if-G.o.d grant that it be not so! she had only a name to live, and were dead, worse than dead, in sinful pleasure-'

'We would save her, or die trying to save her! Is it not enough for me that she is my sister?' a.r.s.enius shook his head. He little knew the strange new light and warmth which his words had poured in upon the young heart beside him. 'A sister!' What mysterious virtue was there in that simple word, which made Philammon's brain reel and his heart throb madly? A sister! not merely a friend, an equal, a help-mate, given by G.o.d Himself, for loving whom none, not even a monk, could blame him.-Not merely something delicate, weak, beautiful-for of course she must be beautiful-whom he might cherish, guide, support, deliver, die for, and find death delicious. Yes-all that, and more than that, lay in the sacred word. For those divided and partial notions had flitted across his mind too rapidly to stir such pa.s.sion as moved him now; even the hint of her sin and danger had been heard heedlessly, if heard at all. It was the word itself which bore its own message, its own spell to the heart of the fatherless and motherless foundling, as he faced for the first time the deep, everlasting, divine reality of kindred.... A sister! of his own flesh and blood-born of the same father, the same mother-his, his, for ever! How hollow and fleeting seemed all 'spiritual sons.h.i.+ps,' 'spiritual daughterhoods,' inventions of the changing fancy, the wayward will of man! a.r.s.enius-Pambo-ay, Hypatia herself-what were they to him now? Here was a real relations.h.i.+p .... A sister! What else was worth caring for upon earth?

'And she was at Athens when Pelagia was'-he cried at last-'perhaps knew her-let us go to Pelagia herself!'

'Heaven forbid!' said a.r.s.enius. 'We must wait at least till Miriam's answer comes.'

'I can show you her house at least in the meanwhile; and you can go in yourself when you will. I do not ask to enter. Come! I feel certain that my finding her is in some way bound up with Pelagia. Had I not met her on the Nile, had you not met her in the street, I might never have heard that I had a sister. And if she went with Miriam, Pelagia must know her-she may be in that very house at this moment!'

a.r.s.enius had his reasons for suspecting that Philammon was but too right. But he contented himself with yielding to the boy's excitement, and set off with him in the direction of the dancer's house.

They were within a few yards of the gate, when hurried footsteps behind them, and voices calling them by name, made them turn; and behold, evidently to the disgust of a.r.s.enius as much as Philammon himself, Peter the Reader and a large party of monks!

Philammon's first impulse was to escape; a.r.s.enius himself caught him by the arm, and seemed inclined to hurry on.

'No!' thought the youth, 'am I not a free man, and a philosopher?' and facing round, he awaited the enemy.

'Ah, young apostate! So you have found him, reverend and ill-used sir. Praised be Heaven for this rapid success!'

'My good friend,' asked a.r.s.enius, in a trembling voice, 'what brings you here?'