THE DOOMED CITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14536, 25 November 1910, Page 3

THE DOOMED CITY.

PUBLISHED BY - SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

BY JOHN R. CABLING. COPYRIGHT. CHAPTER XXVl.—{Continued.) Berenice stood completely dumbfounded at those audacious words from one who had hitherto behaved as her submissive slave. The men looked on with smiles of wonder and amusement; the women were more disposed to-side with the princess. "The girl must be mad," exclaimed Berenice. "On your knees . and cry pardon, or-—" Vashti tinned disdainfully away. "It has pleased me for a time to abide in your house as a slave," said she. "It pleases me now to resume my freedom. Give your commands to others. There is but on© person here who shall have my obedience, and that is my lord Crisp us." She walked to where Crispus stood-for he had risen to his feetlaid an appealing hand upon his arm, and looked with trusting eyes into his. The supreme moment had come! But how was he to save her? His plan had melted into thin air. It was all very well to claim Berenice as his .wife, but the cold conviction suddenly struck him that his claim was based not upon proof, but upon conjecture merely. If Berenice chose to deny his statement, as she undoubtedly would, how could he make his word good? He turned his eyes upon Josephus, but that priest made no movement, uttered no word. "Not vet-," he seemed to be saying. "Guards!" cried Berenice, addressing some of her own 6oldiers, who were stationed at intervals along the wall of the banqueting chamber. " Drag yon girl away, and bring whips hither. Since her defiance of me is public, so, too, shall her scourging be." As the soldiers came forward to execute Berenice's command, Vashti turned to Titus and addressed him. " Cffisar, bid these men stay their hand till I have spoken. I have that to say which will show the justice of my cause." At a sign from Titus the advancing guards paused. " Say on," he commanded, hoping that Vashti might somehow be able to furnish him with a plausible pretext for delivering her from the power of Berenice. Verily, Vashti seemed to be doing the work from which Crispus shrank; for she began to address Titus with' a catechism very similar to what Crispus himself would have employed" had he carried out his plan as originally intended. . "Have you forgotten, sire, a brief visit made by you and my lord Crispus to a house called Beth-tamar on a certain night more than four years ago?" Titus started; he guessed what was coming and frowned. "I have not forgotten it," said he with a side glance at "Berenice, whose lip curved with the scornful smile as of one who should say, "That silly story !" "You can testify that my lord Crispus wedded at Beth-tajnar a woman unknown to him unknown, because she was veiled and spake never a word." This strange and romantic statement caused a murmur of surprise and wonder to rim around the banquet hall. "I can testify to that," said Titus with the air of one who would fain deny what he was affirming. "Do you know the name of the woman?" . ; "I do not," replied Titus, with another side glance at Berenice which set ijome of the guests wondering as to whether she were the mysterious bride. At this point Berenice, with a gesture of impatience, addressed Titus. "What hath all this to do with the question of punishing an insolent slave 1" "Everything, as you will see," returned Vashti quietly, continuing her questions to Tiilus. " Did not Crispus give his bride a .ring, saying that when the unknown lady should come to him with the said ring he would acknowledge her as his wife?" "That is so." Vashti, with eyes shining with love, and with a tender smile that made her face the more beautiful, turned to Crispus, and, withdrawing her hand from a fold of her dress where it had lain concealed, she held it forth, and there sparkling on her finger was the very ring that he had given to his bride at Beth-tamar! Scarcely able to grasp the momentous truth, Crispus stood like one 'enchanted to stone, silently staring at Vashti and her ring. To think that his marriage with Berenice, the ugly black incubus that had so long oppressed him, was the mere figment of his own imagination! that the sweet Christian maiden, whom he had loved from the. first hour of ..seeing her, should be his wife, was a revelation so astounding that it was no wonder that at first Crispns could not give it credence. Vashti gave a low sweet laugh at his bewilderment. "I am your wife, Crispus. Won't you protect me?" Protect her? He put his arm about her waist—a dozen men could not, have torn her from his grasp!and tinned to face Berenice, who for the moment was almost as much bewildered and amazed as Crispus himself. "Prettily acted!" sneered she. "A scheme, artfully pre-concerted, for the purpose of robbing me of my slave. But it shall not succeed. That Crispus wedded someone at Beth-tamar we must believe, since Cassar himself affirms it but I require something more than this girl's word, ere I shall believe her to be the wife of Crispus." " I can confirm her statement," said Josephus, intervening at this point, "since it was I who conducted Vashti to Bethtamar, and from behind a curtain saw her wedded to the lord Crispus. And the woman who attended Vashti during the ceremony was my mother who is here present to bear her "testimony, if need be." " And in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established, princess," remarked Alexander. Berenice, though striving to maintain a calm exterior, was nevertheless full of a secret rage at finding her intended victim slipping from her hands. "What if she be the wife of Crispus? She is none the less my slave." "What? Rob a Roman noble of his wife?" interjected Alexander. "0, too bad !" "At the time I made the gift I knew not that she was the wife of Crispus," remarked Titus, not at all displeased with the turn events were taking. "That matters not," returned Berenice. "The gift, if made in due legal form, as this was, cannot be revoked by you or by a court of law." Crispus smiled sardonically at the baffled Princess. ' "I have here," said he, drawing forth a papyrus scroll, "a document tliar bears a dale long anterior to the time when Vaiihti was made a slave, a document that threatens death" to those who seek to take the wife of Crispus from him. It bears the autograph signature of one whose authority not even Titus Ca?sar himself will venture to dispute, for.the signature is that of his august sire, Flavius Vespasian." "That is so," observed Tiberius Alexander, who had drawn near, aricl was inspecting the document, "and, therefore, it see ins to me," lie added jocularly, "that both Cassar and the Princess, by enslaving the wife of Crispus, have made themselves liable to the death penalty. Doubtless Vespasian will pardon the offenders, as they acted in ignorance. At any rate, Crispus is entitled to lead away his wife ; and may good fortune attend him! The bravest man in the war has obtained the fairest woman for his bride; that is what I say, and who will controvert it?" he added, looking round upon the guests. . "None! None!" was the answer that came from every side. Vashti's romantic story appealed to every heart, save one ; even those ladies who, a few minutes before, had been most opposed to her, now joined in the acclamations that greeted the happy pair thus strangely re-united, "Take me away," whispered Vashti. "Anywhere, so that it be from here." Crispus responded to her appeal. Drawing her arm within his own, he passed smiling from the hall amid cries of K

" Long live the brave Crispus and bis fair I" Long live the brave Crispus and his fair bride!" > . • .'" V • * •• ; * ■ In the moonlit- gardens of the Praetorium Crispus and Vaehti, seated in . the very same spot where they had sat four years before, were holding a delightful convereaVashti was reclining within his embrace, her little hand resting within Ins. v. The early Christians were very human. " And to think that during all this time you have been my wife, and 1 * it not. Why did you not reveal the truth earlier?" , , « "Because, like yourself, f I was bound to secrecv for three years." " But that time limit had gone by when I rescued you from Jerusalem. " True," replied Vashti, the brightness of her face becoming dimmed for a moment by that mournful reminiscence, but was that a time to be talking ot love and wedlock ? ' I resolved to keep the secret till the siege should be over. "I am not sure that you were right in doing so. The making it known would have saved you from the hands of nice. Tell me, how has she used you . " Not ill, though she would taunt me at times with your name, and threaten to whip the Christianity out of me. " But whv did you not set _ yourself free earlier, by sending me the ring • " Because she was always saying that she would give a grand entertainment at which I should serve as a slave while you would look helplessly on; she seemed to take such delight in the notion that I Resolved to await the coming of this feast; it would furnish me with an excellent opportunity of asserting my freedom and of giving her a startling surprise." . "You have certainly succeeded in doing that, my little wife." > " Am I your wife, Cnspus : said Vashti gravely. "Was not that ceremonv at Beth-tamar somewhat heathenish in character " You speak truth, dearest. We must have the blessing of the Church on our union. To-morrow we will _ set out for Jerusalem, where the good bishop Simeon shall join our hands.' At this point a centurion made his appearance with a message to the effect that Titus desired the presence of Crispus and his lady. . Responding, though with considerable reluctance, to this summons, the two repaired to the Ivory Hall, where they found Titus seated beside Berenice with Josephus standing near. " 13© seated, noblo Crispus, and the lady Vashti." . Titus spoke with genuine affability; as ! for Berenice her disdainful air showed that the presence or the absence of the pair was a matter alike of indifference to her. " I have asked Josephus," began Titus, when the centurion had withdrawn, leaving the five together, " to tell me the meaning of the strange business at Beth-tamar. He is very urgent that you also should be present to hear him. Hence my sending for you." With that he nodded to the priest as a sign for him to proceed. " It may be, sire," began Josephus, " that what I have to say will give sharp offence!to one of my hearers-" Crispus guessed that Berenice was meant. Therefore, ere I begin, I must receive assurance from you that the utterance shall not bring* punishment upon the utterer." . "Say what thou wilt; abuse me, if it please thee; thy tongue shalt have free license to-night." Assured thus, Josephus began. " I have but lately returned, 0 Caesar, from a visit to Pontus, where it was my fortune to meet with Zeno, brother of the royal Polemo, and seemingly a man well acquainted with the secrets of the late king. It is partly from this Zeno, and partly from my own knowledge, that I derive the materials for the story I am about to relate." . At the mention of the names Polemo and Zeno, Berenice, who had hitherto be.trayed a languid indifference, began to appear as if keenly interested. " Many years twenty-three, to give the exact numberthe Princess Berenice, then in _ her twentieth year, married Polemo, king of Pontus, who, after two years, repudiated her, -for a reason the princess herself knows." Here Josephus ceased speaking, checked by Berenice's haughty and indignant stare. "Is it necessary to bring my name into your narration?", " Absolutely necessary." ".Then I will tell you the reason of our Reparation. He did not repudiate me; I left him of my own free will, left him because, prior to our marriage, ,he, himself a proselyte, promised that he would do all in" his power to bring the people of Pontu» over to Judaism. . He failed to redeem his word, however —nay, he actively thwarted mv attempts at proselytism, and so I left him." " Was there not a daughter born of this marriage ?" Berenice's eyes flashed fire. " I see plainly that your object is to prejudice mo in the eyes of Titus by recalling a deed of long ago. What I did then I do not now regret-" ' " That is a strange thing to say of infanticide." Berenice gave a cold hard laugh that caused Vashti to shiver.. " The exposure of infants is a custom so common among the Gentiles that Titus will scarcely regard it as a great crime." " But our law. Princess, regards it as murder." " And I regard my deed as a justifiable one, for in destroying the body of the infant I saved its soul. Polemo, who had seceded from Judaism, and had grown to hate both me and my religion, swore that he would bring up the child in his own Hellenic faith, and would teach. it to hate the religion of its mother. I resolved to save it from such fate, and took the only possible way— exposed it one winter's night among the snowy crags of Hermon." Vashti gave a faint little gasp—inaudible to Berenice—and her heart almost ceased its beating. Not even when coming home on that dreadful night to find Arad gone for ever did she feel more horror than she felt at this moment. To learn that she was the daughter of a woman so unnatural as to expose her own child to death! to learn that it was her own mother who had been pursuing her with a malignant aim! to learn that she was a member of that Herodian house that had' never ceased persecuting Christianity from its very beginning!—all this rushed with her blood, nearly causing her to shriek aloud. Josephus continued his narration. " The loss of the —for lie had loved it as the apple of his eye—threw Polemo into a fever, which, so it seems to me, crazed his brain, for it left him animated by one passion only—a desire to be revenged upon the woman who had wronged him." "Thou liest," interjected Berenice, " for in due course of time lie and I, as all men can testify, grew to be great friends." "You were deceived, princess. He masked his hatred under a smiling guise the more effectually to conceal his purpose. Now, mark the result of your deed! It is true that it was decreed in the councils of the Most High that the city and the temple should perish, but the Most High makes use of human instruments to work out His . decrees; and yours, princess, has been the hand that has wrought the ruin of Israel." There was in Josephus's manner something so solemn and convincing that all Berenice's hauteur and defiance vanished, leaving her nearly as pale and trembling as the daughter that was as yet unknown to her. "How mean you ?" she faltered. " It was your religion, so Polemo erroneously argued, that had destroyed his child; he would therefore destroy your religion. Nothing was dearer to you, so you had once said to him, than the holy city and the holy temple; he resolved to bring destruction both upon that city and upon that temple. " How could he effect it ? "There was but one way; the , Jewish people must be goaded into war, a war in which their capital must sink in flames. _" This is the key to Polemo's frequent visits to Judffia; to his friendship with successive procurators— Festus, Albinus. With these, however, he failed to effect his purpose, but at last in Florus he found the tool he wanted. While you, princess, were on one side of . J.he jjrocurator, winning him ..to acta -of

; clemency, Polemo was on the other, urging him to deeds of blood; all the provocative acts of Floras were due to the secret, the wicked policy of the Pontic king." These words caused a deepening of Vashti's horror. To think 'that she was the daughter of a king so cold-blooded as to deliberately plan the extirpation of a whole nation, and all, so it seemed, on her account! 1 At this point Titus intervened. " This secret history is doubtless interesting, but what hath it to do with Beth-tamar ?" "I am coming to it, 0 Cssar. It chanced in course of time that the Princess Berenice met my lord Crispus at a banquet at Antiocli and became enamoured of him." Berenice give a scornful ■ laugh; but the statement was true, and her laugh deceived no one. " Polemo suspected this. Now, he had already in mind selected the son of his friend, Cestius the Legate, to be his successor in the sovereignty of Pontns, and it did not suit his policy that Berenice should marry Crispus, and thus again wear the crown that she had once despised. He therefore resolved to thwart her aim. While thinking how he might best succeed in this matter, he happened to pay a visit to Jerusalem,' and there, by a singular turn of destiny, he saw one day in the temple courts a maiden who immediately arrested his attention from the marvellous resemblance she bore to his mother Pvthodoris in her youthful days. Avoiding the maiden herself, he made inquiries of others, and learned that her name was Vashti, and that she was the ward of him who now addresses you. He sought me out with eager questionings, and I was forced to admit that the supposed daughter of Hyrcanus was in reality a foundling, nor were proofs wanting to convince him beyond all doubt that in Vashti he had found his daughter Athenais, long supposed by him to be dead." A strange sound broke from Berenice; amazement caused her figure to stiffen into a rigid attitude for a few moments she sat thus, motionless and wordless; then, slowly, mechanically, she turned her head and looked at Vashti. And of all the looks that Vashti had ever received none frightened her more than this; it was a look without a traco of maternal love— disdainful, cruel; a look that said, as plainly .as words could say, that she would never acknowledge the Nazarene apostate as a daughter of hers. " Polemo, for reasons of his own, did not make himself known to his daughter. Whether he now had any affection for her whom, as a babe, ho had idolised, it is hard to say; on? tiling became clear to him; he saw in the daughter an instrument for the humiliation of the mother. If he could persuade Crispus to marry Vashti, and to keep the matter hidden from _ the world, the fond, enamoured Berenice would be pursuing Crispus for months in the vain endeavour to win him to her arms, while hePolemo— could look on in malicious enjoyment, as knowing that her wiles were foredoomed to failure. " Such was Polemo's reason for keeping the wedding a secreta reason unknown to me at the time; I have learned it since from Zono. Vashti, too, was required to keep tho matter hidden, even from her adopted mother, Miriam. Vashti, being my ward, was compelled to take for her husband the man of my choice, and though she long resisted the notion of wedding a heathen Roman, I overcame her scruples at last by persuading her that her intended bridegroom was far more virtuous than many a Jew. She therefore accompanied me by night, to Beth-tamar, not knowing that ho who presided over these nuptials was her father, not knowing his name even, nor that she had been destined by him to wear the crown of a queen. " All this was to come upon her later as a delightful surprise. My story is all but finished. It was Polemo's intention to stand beside Berenice either upon Mount Olivet when the temple was burning, or at some palace-window in Rome where the triumphal procession was sweeping past., carrying the sacred spoils of the templeto stand beside her and to tell her in fierce exultant tones that all this was his work; he would watch her agony ; she was to be the victim of his laughter, of his mockery, of his scorn! " But this supreme and thrilling moment of revenge^ — triumph that he had so long worked for, was not to be his; lie died ere the day of his vengeance came. " Csesar, my tale is said." There was a long silence in that chamber after Josephus had finished his narration. Titus looked at Berenice as if desiring her to say something. The breast of that princess was the seat of a wild tumult of contending passions, but among them there was neither pity nor love for her newly-found daughter. " If, seems," said she, with a superbly dis- . dninfui air, "it seems, if the story of Josephus be true, that I am to be presented with a daughter, but I care not for the gift. I should be a hypocrite were I to feign love where love is not. No; I cast her away in infancy that thereby I might save her soul; by becoming a Nazarene she has chosen to destroy her soul; let her still remain a castaway. Let her keep to her own path as I shall keep to mine. I have no daughter; that is my answer to her." Vashti was willing for reconcilement, but this cold repudiation kept her dumb. With divine pity in her eyes, she looked at her mother and sighed. Crispus made reply for her. " Since such is your decision," said he. "'we will not seek' to change it. Csesar, I salute you. Come, Vashti, let us be going." As the two arose to depart, Titus walked over to them, as if not willing that Berenice should hear what he had to say." " Mv sire. Vespasian, knowing that you have been disappointed in the expectation of the crown of Pontus, lias offered you the thing that is most like namely, the governorship of that province. lis people will he delighted when they know that the wife of the new governor in the granddaughter of the good-queen Pytliodoris.' But Crispus had little desire for the honour; he would bo more happv with Vashti in his beautiful villa among the Sabine hills than in presiding over the destinies. of the Pontic people. While thinkin thus, however, he received from Vashti a wistful glance which seemed to be urging him to accept the post. " What, Vashti? Ambitious that I should sit in a curule chair?" .. . . " Yes," whispered she, " for if Crispus he ruler of Poritus there will always be one safe asylum for Christians." "You speak wisely, little woman,' replied he; and, turning to Titus, he said, " I accept the post with nil thankfulness." Berenice watched the two as they quitted the Ivory Hall. She never saw them again ! After a brief visit to Jerusalem, where Bishop Simeon joined the hands of the pair, Crisnus, accompanied by his bride, set out for his province of Pontus, there to begin an administration, whose wisdom and justice were to win golden opinions from all men. And Berenice? • The Roman senate and the Roman people soon made short work of her dream of an' imperial throne i Their anger at the thought of a Jewish empress was eo fiercely expressed that Titus, albeit with all reluctance, was compelled to banish her from his nresence. Scorned bv the Romans because she came of tho Jewish, people: scorned bv the Jewish neonle because she had allied herself with a Roman; branded with deserved infamy by the poet Juvenal • eating out her heart over the ignominious end In of her splendid ambition, Berenice passed into a state of obscurity and oblivion, History. failing to record the time, the place, or the manner of her death. [the end.]