"I hate
you!" She ran away, with impassioned laughter. He passed the door.
"To the evil honor is ever stupid," he said, to himself, as he left the
palace. By-and-by he added, thoughtfully, "'Tis a mighty friend--this
great love in me."
And said David, who was waiting when he returned: "They kept you long,
my master."
"Yes; I have been fighting!"
"Fighting?"
"For the prize of heaven in the amphitheatre of hell. My love was my
shield, the power of God my weapon."
"Friend, what mean you?"
"That an evil woman has tried to put the leash of fate upon me."
"How fared the battle?"
"It was my victory," said Vergilius; "and I do feel a mighty peace in
me."
CHAPTER 17
Vergilius had thought wisely of his temptation. Fate rules them only
who are too weak to rule themselves, and the great leash of fate is the
power of evil women. It was now to hasten the current of history in
the old capital.
Salome sat with Manius in the great picture-room of her mother's
palace. Guests had left the banquet-hall and gone to their homes.
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