"
"No, it is not enough," Ben-Hur said, unmoved by the play--"it
is not enough. To-morrow you will determine what to do with me.
I may die."
"True," she rejoined quickly and with emphasis, "I had something
from Sheik Ilderim as he lay with my father in a grove out in
the Desert. The night was still, very still, and the walls of the
tent, sooth to say, were poor ward against ears outside listening
to--birds and beetles flying through the air."
She smiled at the conceit, but proceeded:
"Some other things--bits of shell for the picture--I had from--"
"Whom?"
"The son of Hur himself."
"Was there no other who contributed?"
"No, not one."
Hur drew a breath of relief, and said, lightly, "Thanks. It were
not well to keep the Lord Sejanus waiting for you. The Desert is
not so sensitive. Again, O Egypt, peace!"
To this time he had been standing uncovered; now he took the
handkerchief from his arm where it had been hanging, and adjusting
it upon his head, turned to depart. But she arrested him; in her
eagerness, she even reached a hand to him.
"Stay," she said.
He looked back at her, but without taking the hand, though it
was very noticeable for its sparkling of jewels; and he knew
by her manner that the reserved point of the scene which was
so surprising to him was now to come.
"Stay, and do not distrust me, O son of Hur, if I declare I know
why the noble Arrius took you for his heir. And, by Isis! by all
the gods of Egypt! I swear I tremble to think of you, so brave and
generous, under the hand of the remorseless minister.
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