Often, very often had Zarah turned over the subject of her peculiar position in her mind, and considered whether she ought not to leave the precincts of Jerusalem, and secretly depart for Bethsura. There the orphan could claim the hospitality of her aged relative Rachel, should she be living yet, or the protection of the Asmonean brothers, who, being her next of kin, were, according to Jewish customs, the maiden"s natural guardians. But Zarah shrank from taking this difficult step.
Very formidable to her was the idea of undertaking a journey even of but twenty miles" length, through a country where she would be liable to meet enemies at every step of the way. Zarah had no means of travelling save on foot, unless she disposed of some of the few jewels which she had inherited from her parents; and this she was not only unwilling to do, but she feared to do it lest, through the sale of these gems in Jerusalem, she should be tracked to her place of retreat.
Anna was faithful as a servant, but could never be leaned upon as an adviser--she would obey, but she could not counsel; and her young mistress, timid and gentle, with no one to guide and protect her, felt her strength and courage alike insufficient for an adventurous journey from Jerusalem to Bethsura.
The possible necessity which might arise of her having to place herself under the protection of Maccabeus, should Rachel be no longer living at Bethsura, greatly increased Zarah"s reluctance to leave her present abode. The maiden remembered too well what Hada.s.sah had disclosed of a proposed union between herself and Judas, not to feel that it would be peculiarly painful to have to throw herself upon the kindness of her brave kinsman. Zarah could not, as she thought, tell him why the idea of such a union was hateful to her soul--why she was averse to fulfilling the wishes of Mattathias and Hada.s.sah. While Maccabeus often experienced an almost irrepressible yearning once more to look upon Zarah, whom he believed to be still with Hada.s.sah, of whose death he never had heard, Zarah shrank with emotions of fear from meeting the Hebrew chieftain.
Tender affection also made the orphan girl cling to her parents" grave and the home of her youth. Dear a.s.sociations were linked with almost every object on which her eyes rested. Those to whom the present is a th.o.r.n.y waste, and the future a prospect darkened by gloomy mists, are wont to dwell more than others on the green spots which memory yet can survey in the past. It is natural to youth to look forward. Zarah, as regarded this world, dared only look back. It was well for her that she could do so with so little of remorse or regret.
"Not to have known a treasure"s worth Till time hath stolen away the slighted boon, Is cause of half the misery we feel, And makes this world the wilderness it is."
When winter was drawing near, when the bursting cotton-pods had been gathered, and the vintage season was over, when the leaves were beginning to fall fast, and the cold grew sharp after sunset, circ.u.mstances occurred which compelled a change in Zarah"s quiet routine of existence. She could no longer be left to indulge her lonely sorrow; the current of life was about to take a sudden turn which must of necessity bring her amongst new scenes, and expose her to fresh trials.
CHAPTER x.x.x.
CHANGES.
One evening, towards the hour of sunset, Zarah sat alone at her wheel awaiting the return of Anna from the city, she was startled by the sound of a hand rapping hastily upon the panel of the door. The hand was a.s.suredly not that of Anna, who, from precaution, had adopted a peculiar way of tapping to announce her return. As no visitor ever came to Zarah"s dwelling, it was no marvel that she felt alarm at the unexpected sound, especially as she was aware that she had neglected her usual precaution of barring the door during the absence of Anna.
As Zarah hastily rose to repair her omission, the door was opened from without, and Lycidas stood before her. The countenance of the Greek expressed anxiety and alarm.
"Lady, forgive the intrusion," said Lycidas, bending in lowly salutation before the startled girl; "but regard for your safety compels me to seek this interview. I was to-day in company with Lysimachus, the Syrian courtier--how we chanced to be together, or wherefore he mentioned to me what I am about to disclose, matters little, and I would be brief. Lysimachus told me that, from information which he had received--how, I know not--he had cause to suspect that the maiden who some half-year back had been sentenced by the king to death if she refused to apostatize from her faith, was living secluded in a dwelling amongst the hills to the east of the city. The Syrian declared that he was resolved to-morrow morn to explore thoroughly every spot which could possibly afford a place of concealment to the maiden--whom he intends to seize and send as a prisoner into Persia, to the merciless tyrant whom he serves."
Zarah turned very pale at the tidings, and leaned on her wheel for support.
"You must fly to-night, dearest lady," said Lycidas; "this dwelling is no longer a safe asylum for you."
"Whither can I fly, and how?" murmured the orphan girl. "I have no friend here except"--Zarah hesitated, and Lycidas completed the sentence.
"Except one to whom your lightest wish is a command; to whom every hair of your head is dearer than life!" exclaimed the Athenian.
"Speak not thus to me, Lycidas," said Zarah, in a tone of entreaty; "you know too well the impa.s.sable barrier which divides us."
"Not impa.s.sable, Zarah," cried the Greek; "it has been thrown down, I have trampled over it, and it separates us no longer. Hear me, O daughter of Abraham! Much have I learned since last I stood on this threshold; deeply have I studied your Scriptures; long have I secretly conversed with the wise and learned who could instruct me in your faith. I am now persuaded that there is no G.o.d but one G.o.d--He who revealed Himself to Abraham: I have renounced every heathen superst.i.tion; I have in all things conformed to the law of Moses; I have been formally received as a proselyte into the Jewish Church; and am now, like Achor the Ammonite, in everything save name and birth, a Hebrew."
Zarah could not refrain from uttering an exclamation of delight. Her whole countenance suddenly lighted up with an expression of happiness, which was reflected on that of him who stood before her--for in that blissful moment Lycidas felt that he must be beloved.
"Oh, joy!" cried Zarah, clasping her hands. "Then have you also embraced the Holy Covenant, and you are numbered amongst the children of Abraham! Then may I look upon you as a brother indeed!"
"Can you not look upon me as something more than a brother, Zarah?"
exclaimed the Athenian. "Why should you not fly--since you needs must fly from this dangerous spot--under the protection, the loving, devoted care, of an affianced husband?"
Zarah flushed, trembled, covered her face with her hands, and sank, rather than seated herself, upon the divan from which she had risen on hearing the knock of the Greek. Lycidas ventured to seat himself beside the young maiden, take one of her unresisting hands and press it first to his heart, then to his lips--for he read consent in the silence of Zarah.
But the maiden had none of the calm tranquillity of happiness; she felt bewildered, doubtful of herself; again she covered her face and murmured, "Oh, that my mother were here to guide me!"
"Hada.s.sah would not have spurned a proselyte whom the elders have received; she was too large-minded, too just," said Lycidas, disappointed and somewhat mortified at the doubts which evidently disturbed the mind of the maiden. "Listen to the plan which I have formed for your escape, my Zarah. I have already made arrangements with the trusty Joab. He will bring a horse-litter an hour after dark to bear you and your handmaid hence; I will accompany you as your armed and mounted attendant. We will direct our course to the coast. At Joppa we shall, I hope, find a vessel, borne forward by whose white wings we shall soon reach my own beautiful and glorious land, where love, freedom, and happiness, shall await my fair Hebrew bride!"
For some moments Zarah made no reply; how tempting was the vista thus suddenly opened before her--radiant with rosy light, like those seen in the clouds at sunrise! Then Zarah uncovered her face, but without raising it, or venturing to look at Lycidas, she said, in a voice that trembled with emotion, "Hada.s.sah, my mother, would have deemed it unseemly for a maiden thus to flee from her country to a land where her G.o.d is not known and worshipped, and under the protection of one who is none of her kindred."
"I thought that you had no kindred, Zarah," said Lycidas, with uneasiness; "that you had none left of your family whose guardianship you could seek."
"I have--or had--an aged relative, Rachel of Bethsura," replied Zarah, "who, if she be yet living, will a.s.suredly receive me into her home.
But my next of kin are the Asmonean brothers."
"The n.o.blest family in the land!" exclaimed the Athenian. "If it be indeed impossible for you to escape with me into Greece--"
"Not impossible, but wrong," said Zarah, softly; "it would be disobeying what I know would have been the will of her whose wishes are more sacred to me now than ever."
"Then be mine in your own land," cried Lycidas, "where I may show that I merit to win you. Will the n.o.ble Judas and his brothers deem me unworthy to unite with one of their race if I devote my sword to the cause of which they are the champions--a cause as glorious as that for which my ancestor died at Marathon?"
Still the cloud of doubt did not pa.s.s from the fair brow of Zarah.
There was a difficulty in her mind which she shrank from disclosing to Lycidas. At last she timidly said, her cheeks glowing crimson as she spoke, "Shall I be candid with you, Lycidas? shall I tell all--as to a brother?"
"All, all," replied the Athenian, with painful misgiving at his heart.
"Beloved Hada.s.sah is at rest, I can hear her dear voice no more, but--but I am not ignorant of what were her views and wishes," said Zarah. "I believe--indeed I know"--Zarah could hardly speak distinctly enough, in her confusion, for the strained ear of Lycidas to catch her words--"she had destined me for another; I am not quite certain whether I be not even betrothed."
Lycidas could not refrain from a pa.s.sionate outburst. "It was wicked--cruel--infamous," he cried, "to dispose of your hand without your consent!"
"Such words must never be applied to aught that she did," said Zarah.
"The revered mother ever consulted the happiness as well as the honour of her child. She would never have urged upon me any marriage from which my heart revolted, but she let me know her wishes. And the very last day that we were together"--tears flowed fast from under Zarah"s long drooping lashes as she went on--"on that fatal day, ere I left her to attend the Pa.s.sover feast, Hada.s.sah charged me, by the love that I bore to her, never to take any important step in life without at least consulting him in whom she felt a.s.sured that I should find my best earthly protector."
"And who may this chosen individual be?" asked Lycidas, almost fiercely; a pang of jealousy stirring in his breast as he demanded the name of his rival.
Zarah murmured, "Judas Maccabeus."
"Judas Maccabeus!" exclaimed the young Greek, starting to his feet, more alarmed at the sound of that name than had been the warriors of Nicanor, when hearing it suddenly at night in the death-shout.
Lycidas, with all the enthusiastic admiration which n.o.ble deeds inspire in a poetic and generous nature like his, had regarded the career of the Hebrew hero. The history of Maccabeus was to the Greek an acted epic; in character, in renown, Judas, in his estimation, towered like a giant above all other men of his generation. Lycidas had met the chieftain but once; but in that one meeting had received impressions which made him idealize Maccabeus into a being more like the demi-G.o.ds of whom poets sang, whom worshippers adored, than one of the denizens of earth. He was in the eyes of the young enthusiast, conqueror, patriot, and prince--a breathing embodiment of "the heroism of virtue."
The Greek had never thought of Maccabeus before as one subject to human pa.s.sions, save love of country, and perhaps love of fame; or as one influenced by human affections, who might seek to win a woman"s heart as well as to triumph over his foes. The idea of having him for a rival struck the young Athenian with something like despair; it seemed more than presumption to enter the arena against such an opponent as this. Lycidas believed that, had Antiochus Epiphanes laid the crown of Syria at the feet of Zarah, she would have rejected the gift; but breathed there a maiden in Judaea who could do aught but accept with pride the proffered hand of her country"s hero--of him who was to all other mortals as snow-capped Lebanon to a mole-hill?
Zarah felt that her disclosure had inspired more alarm in the mind of Lycidas than she had intended, or than was warranted by the true state of the relations between her and the Hebrew leader. She hastened to relieve the apprehensions of the Greek. "I reverence Maccabeus," said the maiden; "I would repose the greatest confidence alike in his wisdom and his honour; but, personally, Judas is no more to me than any of his brothers."
Lycidas drew a deep sigh of relief. Grateful for the encouragement which he drew from this avowal, the Greek resumed his place by the side of Zarah. "What course will you then pursue towards Maccabeus?" he inquired.
"I must consult him, as Hada.s.sah bade me consult him," said the maiden: "he must know all that most nearly concerns me; it seems to me as if he stood to me now in the place of a father."
The spirits of Lycidas rose at the word; again his heart was buoyant with hope.
"Our first object now, beloved one," said he, "must be to place your person in safety. As you will not seek refuge in Attica, we will bend our course southward--if such be your wish--and find out your aged relative at Bethsura. I would fain that she dwelt in any other direction; for Bethsura itself holds a Syrian garrison, the army of Lysias is advancing, and southern Judaea is so infested by armed bands that travelling is scarcely safe. Have you no friends, no relatives, in Galilee, or on the sea-coast?"
Zarah shook her head. "I know not of one," she replied. "Rachel dwells not in Bethsura but near it, and in a spot so retired that the enemy is scarcely likely to find it out. If the country be infested by armed bands--they are the followers of Maccabeus, and from them we have nothing to dread."
Though Lycidas was not a little disappointed at having to give up his first scheme--that of bearing off Zarah to the coast, and thence to Attica--he could not but respect her scruples, and own that the course upon which she had decided was not only the most dutiful but the most wise. It was agreed therefore that Zarah, under the escort of Lycidas, should start at the hour which the Greek had first proposed; but that, instead of Joppa, her destination should be Bethsura--at which place, by travelling all night, she might hope to arrive before dawn.
While Zarah was concluding these arrangements with Lycidas, Anna returned from Jerusalem. The face of the faithful servant expressed anxiety; a warning dropped in her ear by a Hebrew acquaintance had rendered her uneasy on account of her mistress. "Beware! dogs are on the scent of the deer." Heartily glad was the handmaid to find that the Athenian lord had come to aid the escape of Zarah; his talents, his courage, the gold which he so lavishly spent, would, as she thought, clear away all difficulties attending their flight.