A great light sprang into the face of the Greek. Philadelphus,
nervous, albeit the news he heard filled him with pleasure, stood and
waited.
The Christian stepped back and Momus, bowing, approached and handed
the leather roll into the none too steady hands of the Ephesian. He
opened it and drew forth parchments.
Aloud he read a minute description of Laodice from the rabbi of the
synagogue in Ascalon; under the great seals of the Roman state, he
found and read the oath of the prefect, that such a maiden as the
rabbi had described had been married before him to Philadelphus
Maccabaeus fourteen years before. Then followed the depositions of
forty Jews and Gentiles who were nurses, tradesmen and other people
like to have daily contact with the young woman in her house, setting
entirely at naught any claim that Laodice was other than the wife who
had been supplanted by an adventuress. Philadelphus did not read them
all. Before he made an end he dropped the documents and flung wide his
arms. But Laodice with a countenance frozen with suffering held him
off for a moment.
"Go," she said to the old Christian, "unto Hesper and lead him into
the belief of the Lord Jesus Christ which is mine."
The old Christian approached the fountain in the center of the
andronitis and taking up water in his palm sprinkled a few drops on
her hair while she knelt.
"In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, I baptize
thee, Laodice. Amen!"
While she knelt, he said: "I shall search for him also. Christ have mercy on thee now and for
ever. Farewell."
He was gone.