XXIII. Nemesis
That evening was a hideous one in the palace of Orestes. His
agonies of disappointment, rage, and terror were at once so shameful
and so fearful, that none of his slaves dare approach him; and it
was not till late that his confidential secretary, the Chaldean
eunuch, driven by terror of the exasperated Catholics, ventured into
the tiger's den, and represented to him the immediate necessity for
action.
What could he do? He was committed—Cyril only knew how deeply. What might not the wily archbishop have discovered? What might not he pretend to have discovered? What accusations might he not send off on the spot to the Byzantine Court?
'Let the gates be guarded, and no one allowed to leave the city,'
suggested the Chaldee.
'Keep in monks? as well keep in rats! No; we must send off a
counter-report, instantly.'
'What shall I say, your Excellency?' quoth the ready scribe, pulling
out pen and inkhorn from his sash.
'What do I care? Any lie which comes to hand. What in the devil's
name are you here for at all, but to invent a lie when I want one?'
'True, most noble,' and the worthy sat meekly down to his paper . . . . but did not proceed rapidly.
'I don't see anything that would suit the emergency, unless I
stated, with your august leave, that Cyril, and not you, celebrated
the gladiatorial exhibition; which might hardly appear credible?'
Orestes burst out laughing, in spite of himself. The sleek Chaldee
smiled and purred in return. The victory was won; and Orestes, somewhat more master of himself, began to turn his vulpine cunning to the one absorbing question of the saving of his worthless neck.
'No, that would be too good. Write, that we had discovered a plot
on Cyril's part to incorporate the whole of the African churches
(mind and specify Carthage and Hippo) under his own jurisdiction, and to throw off allegiance to the Patriarch of Constantinople, in case of Heraclian's success.'
The secretary purred delighted approval, and scribbled away now with
right good heart.
'Heraclian's success, your Excellency.'
'We of course desired, by every means in our power, to gratify the
people of Alexandria, and, as was our duty, to excite by every
lawful method their loyalty toward the throne of the Caesars (never
mind who sat on it) at so critical a moment.'
'So critical a moment. . . .'
'But as faithful Catholics, and abhorring even in the extremest
need, the sin of Uzzah, we dreaded to touch with the unsanctified
hands of laymen the consecrated ark of the Church, even though for
its preservation. . . .'
'Its preservation, your Excellency. . . .'
'We, therefore, as civil magistrates, felt bound to confine
ourselves to those means which were already allowed by law and
custom to our jurisdiction; and accordingly made use of those
largesses, spectacles, and public execution of rebels, which have
unhappily appeared to his holiness the patriarch (too ready, perhaps, to find a cause of complaint against faithful adherents of the Byzantine See) to partake of the nature of those gladiatorial exhibitions, which are equally abhorrent to the spirit of the Catholic Church, and to the charity of the sainted emperors by whose pious edicts they have been long since abolished.'
'Your Excellency is indeed great . . . . but—pardon your slave's
remark—my simplicity is of opinion that it may be asked why you did
not inform the Augusta Pulcheria of Cyril's conspiracy?'
'Say that we sent a messenger off three months ago, but that . . . . Make something happen to him, stupid, and save me the trouble.'
'Shall I kill him by Arabs in the neighbourhood of Palmyra, your
Excellency?'
'Let me see . . . . No. They may make inquiries there. Drown him at
sea. Nobody can ask questions of the sharks.'
'Foundered between Tyre and Crete, from which sad calamity only one
man escaped on a raft, and being picked up, after three weeks'
exposure to the fury of the elements, by a returning wheat-ship—By
the bye, most noble, what am I to say about those wheat-ships not
having even sailed?'
'Head of Augustus! I forgot them utterly. Say that—say that the
plague was making such ravages in the harbour quarter that we feared
carrying the infection to the seat of the empire; and let them sail
to-morrow.'
The secretary's face lengthened.