The Bride of the Nile Volume 12
Ebers, Georg, 1837-1898
English
We will print you a perfectly bound paperback of your selected title and send it to you at your nominated address
Below is a summary of The Bride of the Nile Volume 12
This eBook was produced by David Widger
[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an
entire meal of them. D.W.]
THE BRIDE OF THE NILE
By Georg Ebers
Volume 12.
CHAPTER XXI.
While Rustem, to whom Mary had entrusted the jeweller's gold, was making
his preparations for their journey with all the care of a practised
guide, and while Mary was comforting her governess and Mandane, to whom
she explained that Rustem's journey was to save Paula's life, a fresh
trial was going forward in the Court of Justice.
This time Orion was the accused. He had scarcely begun to study the maps
and lists he required for his undertaking when he was bidden to appear
before his judges.
The members composing the Court were the same as yesterday. Among the
witnesses were Paula and the new bishop, as well as Gamaliel, who had
been sent for soon after Mary had left him.
The prosecutor accused the son of the Mukaukas of having made away, in
defiance of the patriarch's injunction, with a costly emerald bequeathed
to the Church by his father.
Orion had determined to conduct his own defence; he recapitulated
everything that he had told the prelate in self-justification in his
father's private room, and then added, that to put a speedy end to this
odious affair he was now prepared to restore the stone, and he placed it
at the disposal of his judges. He handed Paula's emerald to the Kadi who
presented it to the bishop. John, however, did not seem satisfied; he
referred to the written testimony of the widow Susannah, who had been
present when the deceased Mukaukas had designated all the jewels in the
Persian hanging as included in his gift to the Church. This was in
Orion's presence so he was still under suspicion of a fraud; and it was
difficult to determine whether the fine gem now lying on the table before
them were indeed the same to which the Church laid claim.
All this was urged with excessive vehemence and bore the stamp of a
hostile purpose.
Obedience and conviction alike prompted the zealous prelate to this
demeanor, for the same carrier-pigeon which had brought from the
patriarch his appointment to the bishopric required him to insist on
Orion's punishment, for he was a thorn in the flesh of the Jacobite
church, a tainted sheep who might infect the rest of the flock. If the
young man should offer an emerald it was therefore to be closely
examined, to see whether it were the original stone or a substitute.
On these grounds the bishop had expressed his doubts, and though they
gave rise to an indignant murmur among the judges, the Kadi so far
admitted the prelate's suspicions as to explain that last evening a
letter had reached him from his uncle at Djidda, Haschim the merchant, in
which mention was made of the emerald. His son happened to have weighed
that stone, without his knowledge, before he started for Egypt, and
Othman had here a note of its exact weight. The Jew Gamaliel had been
desired to attend with his balances, and could at once use them to
satisfy the bishop.
The jeweller immediately proceeded to do so, and old Horapollo, who was
an expert in such matters, went close up to him, and watched him
narrowly.
It was in feverish anxiety, and more eagerly than any other bystander,
that Paula and Orion kept their eyes fixed on the Jew's hands and lips;
after weighing it once, he did so a second time. Old Horapollo himself
weighed it a third time, with a keen eye though his hands trembled a
little; all three experiments gave the same result: this gem was heavier
by a few grains of doura than that which the merchant's son had weighed,
and yet the Jew declared that there was no purer, clearer, or finer
emerald in the world than this.
Orion breathed more freely, and the question arose among the judges as to
whether the young Arab might have failed in precision, or an exchange had
in fact been effected. This was difficult to imagine, since in that case
the accused would have given himself the loss, and the Church the
Back