Chapter XIV
NYDIA ACCOSTS CALENUS.
WHAT words of terror, yet of hope, had Nydia overheard! The next dayGlaucus was to be condemned; yet there lived one who could save him, andadjudge Arbaces to his doom, and that one breathed within a few steps ofher hiding-place! She caught his cries and shrieks--hisimprecations--his prayers, though they fell choked and muffled on herear. He was imprisoned, but she knew the secret of his cell: could shebut escape--could she but seek the praetor he might yet in time be givento light, and preserve the Athenian. Her emotions almost stifled her;her brain reeled--she felt her sense give way--but by a violent effortshe mastered herself,--and, after listening intently for severalminutes, till she was convinced that Arbaces had left the space tosolitude and herself, she crept on as her ear guided her to the verydoor that had closed upon Calenus. Here she more distinctly caught hisaccents of terror and despair. Thrice she attempted to speak, andthrice her voice failed to penetrate the folds of the heavy door. Atlength finding the lock, she applied her lips to its small aperture, andthe prisoner distinctly heard a soft tone breathe his name.
His blood curdled--his hair stood on end. That awful solitude, whatmysterious and preternatural being could penetrate! 'Who's there?' hecried, in new alarm; 'what spectre--what dread larva, calls upon thelost Calenus?'
'Priest,' replied the Thessalian, 'unknown to Arbaces, I have been, bythe permission of the gods, a witness to his perfidy. If I myself canescape from these walls, I may save thee. But let thy voice reach myear through this narrow passage, and answer what I ask.'
'Ah, blessed spirit,' said the priest, exultingly, and obeying thesuggestion of Nydia, 'save me, and I will sell the very cups on thealtar to pay thy kindness.'
'I want not thy gold--I want thy secret. Did I hear aright? Canst thousave the Athenian Glaucus from the charge against his life?'
'I can--I can!--therefore (may the Furies blast the foul Egyptian!) hathArbaces snared me thus, and left me to starve and rot!'
'They accuse the Athenian of murder: canst thou disprove theaccusation?'
'Only free me, and the proudest head of Pompeii is not more safe thanhis. I saw the deed done--I saw Arbaces strike the blow; I can convictthe true murderer and acquit the innocent man. But if I perish, he diesalso. Dost thou interest thyself for him? Oh, blessed stranger, in myheart is the urn which condemns or frees him!'
'And thou wilt give full evidence of what thou knowest?'
'Will!--Oh! were hell at my feet--yes! Revenge on the falseEgyptian!--revenge!--revenge! revenge!'
As through his ground teeth Calenus shrieked forth those last words,Nydia felt that in his worst passions was her certainty of his justiceto the Athenian. Her heart beat: was it to be her proud destiny topreserve her idolized--her adored? Enough,' said she, 'the powers thatconducted me hither will carry me through all. Yes, I feel that I shalldeliver thee. Wait in patience and hope.'
'But be cautious, be prudent, sweet stranger. Attempt not to appeal toArbaces--he is marble. Seek the praetor--say what thou knowest--obtainhis writ of search; bring soldiers, and smiths of cunning--these locksare wondrous strong! Time flies--I may starve--starve! if you are notquick! Go--go! Yet stay--it is horrible to be alone!--the air is like acharnel--and the scorpions--ha! and the pale larvae; oh! stay, stay!'
'Nay,' said Nydia, terrified by the terror of the priest, and anxious toconfer with herself--'nay, for thy sake, I must depart. Take hope forthy companion--farewell!'
So saying, she glided away, and felt with extended arms along thepillared space until she had gained the farther end of the hall and themouth of the passage that led to the upper air. But there she paused;she felt that it would be more safe to wait awhile, until the night wasso far blended with the morning that the whole house would be buried insleep, and so that she might quit it unobserved. She, therefore, oncemore laid herself down, and counted the weary moments. In her sanguineheart, joy was the predominant emotion. Glaucus was in deadlyperil--but she should save him!
The Last Days of Pompeii Page 40