Page:Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ.djvu/202

Rh were Romans, and they all alike laughed to hear me scream. Consider my broken body, and the years I have gone shorn of my stature; consider thy mother yonder in her lonely tomb, crashed of soul as I of body; consider the sorrows of my master’s family if they are living, and the cruelty of their taking-off if they are dead; consider all, and, with Heaven’s love about thee, tell me, daughter, shall not a hair fall or a red drop run in expiation? Tell me not, as the preachers sometimes do—tell me not that vengeance is the Lord’s. Does he not work his will harmfully as well as in love by agencies? Has he not his men of war more numerous than his prophets? Is not his the law, Eye for eye, hand for hand, foot for foot? Oh, in all these years I have dreamed of vengeance, and prayed and provided for it, and gathered patience from the growing of my store, thinking and promising, as the Lord liveth, it will one day buy me punishment of the wrong-doers? And when, speaking of his practice with arms, the young man said it was for a nameless purpose, I named the purpose even as he spoke—vengeance! and that, Esther, that it was—the third thought which held me still and hard while his pleading lasted, and made me laugh when he was gone.&quot;

Esther caressed the faded hands, and said, as if her spirit with his were running forward to results, &quot;He is gone. Will he come again?&quot;

&quot;Ay, Malluch the faithful goes with him, and will bring him back when I am ready.&quot;

&quot;And when will that be, father?&quot;

&quot;Not long, not long. He thinks all his witnesses dead. There is one living who will not fail to know him, if he be indeed my master’s son.&quot;

&quot;His mother?&quot;

&quot;Nay, daughter, I will set the witness before him; till then let us rest the business with the Lord. I am tired. Call Abimelech.&quot;

Esther called the servant, and they returned into the house.