The reply was in the affirmative. The freed servants had retired when
Hiram left them. The officials would not break up for some time yet, but
there was less difficulty in passing them.

"Very good," said the girl. "Then you, Hiram, lead the way and wait for
me by the little side door. I will give you something in my room which
will pay the Nabathaean's charges ten times over. Do not look so
horrified, Betta. I will give him the large emerald out of my mother's
necklace." The woman clasped her hands, and cried out in dismay and
warning.

"Child, child! That splendid gem! an heirloom in the family--that stone
which came to you from the saintly Emperor Theodosius--to sell that of
all things! Nay-to throw it away; not to rescue your father either, but
merely--yes child, for that is the truth, merely because you lack
patience to wait two little weeks!"

"That is hard, that is unjust, Betta," Paula broke in reprovingly. "It
will be a question of a month, and we all know how much depends on the
messenger. Do you forget how highly Hiram spoke of this very man's
intelligence? And besides--must I, the younger, remind you?--What is the
life of man? An instant may decide his life or death; and my father is
an old man, scarred from many wounds even before the siege. It may make
just the difference between our meeting, or never meeting again."

"Yes, yes," said the old woman in subdued tones, "perhaps you are right,
and if I. . ." But Paula stopped her mouth with a kiss, and then
desired Hiram to carry the gem, the first thing in the morning, to
Gamaliel the Jew, a wealthy and honest man, and not to sell it for less
than twelve thousand drachmae. If the goldsmith could not pay so much