"I will not slander myself!" she cried. "I am not afraid to confess my fault--"
"But thou shall not do it!" he declared. "The punishment for it would not be alone for thyself! Choose between the quiet of thy conscience and the peace and pride of thy father! Bethink thee, the inestimable harm thou canst do by this thing! Be not deceived that the story of thy lapse would be kept under thy father's roof. That ignoble pagan governor below has no care for thy sweet fame! He would tell it; thy maidens would hear of it and fear thee or follow thee! Thy father's government over his people would be weakened; the elders of the Synagogue would question him--Lydia, suffer the little hurt of conscience for thine own account, rather than afflict many for thy pride's sake!"
Her small hands, white in the darkness of the corridor, were twisted about each other in distress. Marsyas' pity was stirred to the deepest.
"How unhappy thou hast been!" he said, touching upon her apostasy. "Give over thy wavering and be the true daughter of God, once more! Let us destroy this evil amulet!"
He plucked the crucifix from his tunic and caught it between his hands to break it, when she sprang toward him and seized his wrists.
"Do not so!" she besought, her eyes large with fright.
He had forced her to defend it, and she had stood to the breach; he had proved the gravity of her disaffection for the faith of Abraham.
"Why wilt thou endanger thyself for this social drift?" he demanded passionately. "Lydia! How canst thou turn from the faith of thy fathers?"
"I--I am not worthy to be a Nazarene!" she answered. "They are forbidden to enact a falsehood!"
"Let be; I do not care for their philosophy; it is like the Law of Rome.--an empty armor that any knave can wear. But I urge thee to behold what misery thou invitest upon thyself! What will come of it? Immortal as thou art in soul, thou canst not keep alive the single spark of wisdom in the ashes of their folly; thou canst not save them against the combined vengeance of the whole world! But thou canst be disgraced with them, persecuted with them, and die with them! Unhallowed the day that ever Classicus spoke their name to thee! Cursed be his words! May the Lord treasure them up against him--!"