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"Here," she said rapidly, "is what strengthens John in his folly This

is a passage that leads under the Teh Moriah into Tophet

The whole city is underlaid with these galleries, but this is the only

one which leads to safety"

She dropped the curtain and approached hie alone!"

He smiled, and then with that boyish impulsiveness that he had

cultivated to cover the evil in his nature, he thrust out his hand to

her

"Here is my hand on it!" he exclaimed

"Go, then, and cease not till you have found her Then, by any or all

the gods, I shall see that you do not go out of that passage

empty-handed"

He smiled at her radiantly and went at once to his chambers

When he reached the apartments, he found them silent and deserted He

seized upon the opportunity as -place of the dowry of two hundred talents

When he opened first the great press in which his lady kept her

raiment he was confronted by emptiness Dismayed, he turned to look

into the room and found the chests for the most part open and rifled

On the brazier, now cold, lay a wax tablet He snatched it up and read: Received of Julian of Ephesus the appended salvage in good repair

Items: One wife, Two hundred talents