“No, no, Esther— not that.
Call me friend— brother, if you will; I am not your master, and will not be.
Call me brother.”
He could not see the flush of pleasure which reddened her face, and the glow of the eyes that went out lost in the void above the river.
“I cannot understand,” she said, “the nature which prefers the life you are going to— a life of— ”
“Of violence, and it may be of blood,” he said, completing the sentence.
“Yes,” she added, “the nature which could prefer that life to such as might be in the beautiful villa.”
“Esther, you mistake.
There is no preference.
Alas! the Roman is not so kind.
I am going of necessity.
To stay here is to die; and if I go there, the end will be the same— a poisoned cup, a bravo’s blow, or a judge’s sentence obtained by perjury.
Messala and the procurator Gratus are rich with plunder of my father’s estate, and it is more important to them to keep their gains now than was their getting in the first instance.
A peaceable settlement is out of reach, because of the confession it would imply.
And then— then— Ah, Esther, if I could buy them, I do not know that I would.
I do not believe peace possible to me; no, not even in the sleepy shade and sweet air of the marble porches of the old villa— no matter who might be there to help me bear the burden of the days, nor by what patience of love she made the effort.
Peace is not possible to me while my people are lost, for I must be watchful to find them.
If I find them, and they have suffered wrong, shall not the guilty suffer for it?
If they are dead by violence, shall the murderers escape?
Oh, I could not sleep for dreams!
Nor could the holiest love, by any stratagem, lull me to a rest which conscience would not strangle.”
“Is it so bad then?” she asked, her voice tremulous with feeling. “Can nothing, nothing, be done?”
Ben-Hur took her hand.
“Do you care so much for me?”
“Yes,” she answered, simply.
The hand was warm, and in the palm of his it was lost.
He felt it tremble.
Then the Egyptian came, so the opposite of this little one; so tall, so audacious, with a flattery so cunning, a wit so ready, a beauty so wonderful, a manner so bewitching.
He carried the hand to his lips, and gave it back.
“You shall be another Tirzah to me, Esther.”
“Who is Tirzah?”
“The little sister the Roman stole from me, and whom I must find before I can rest or be happy.”
Just then a gleam of light flashed athwart the terrace and fell upon the two; and, looking round, they saw a servant roll Simonides in his chair out of the door.
They went to the merchant, and in the after-talk he was principal.
Immediately the lines of the galley were cast off, and she swung round, and, midst the flashing of torches and the shouting of joyous sailors, hurried off to the sea—leaving Ben-Hur committed to the cause of the king who was to come.
Chapter 10
The day before the games, in the afternoon, all Ilderim’s racing property was taken to the city, and put in quarters adjoining the Circus.
Along with it the good man carried a great deal of property not of that class; so with servants, retainers mounted and armed, horses in leading, cattle driven, camels laden with baggage, his outgoing from the Orchard was not unlike a tribal migration.
The people along the road failed not to laugh at his motley procession; on the other side, it was observed that, with all his irascibility, he was not in the least offended by their rudeness.
If he was under surveillance, as he had reason to believe, the informer would describe the semi-barbarous show with which he came up to the races.
The Romans would laugh; the city would be amused; but what cared he?
Next morning the pageant would be far on the road to the desert, and going with it would be every movable thing of value belonging to the Orchard— everything save such as were essential to the success of his four.
He was, in fact, started home; his tents were all folded; the dowar was no more; in twelve hours all would be out of reach, pursue who might.
A man is never safer than when he is under the laugh; and the shrewd old Arab knew it.
Neither he nor Ben-Hur overestimated the influence of Messala; it was their opinion, however, that he would not begin active measures against them until after the meeting in the Circus; if defeated there, especially if defeated by Ben-Hur, they might instantly look for the worst he could do; he might not even wait for advices from Gratus.
With this view, they shaped their course, and were prepared to betake themselves out of harm’s way.
They rode together now in good spirits, calmly confident of success on the morrow.
On the way, they came upon Malluch in waiting for them.
The faithful fellow gave no sign by which it was possible to infer any knowledge on his part of the relationship so recently admitted between Ben-Hur and Simonides, or of the treaty between them and Ilderim.
He exchanged salutations as usual, and produced a paper, saying to the sheik,