The Dream of Pilate's Wife

Front matter

K^ KqKs BY MRS. HAROLD DAY.^'f.) OF KENDAL, AUTHOR OF IRIS," " POWN TVHERE THE WATER-LILIES GROVT "THE CONQUEST OF EDEN," ETC. THE ROXBURGHE PRESS. Fifteen. Victoria Street, Westminster. PEEFACE. Feeling that some explanation is needed in respect to the liberties taken with some of the dates in my novel " The Deeam of Pilate's Wife," I take this opportunity of stating that the romance is founded on historical facts, rather than recorded as matter of pure history, the accession of Caius Caligula having to be thrown at a much earlier date in order to bring him on the scene in intimate association with other characters. I make no apology for dealing with the subject of Metempsychosis, as in all ages and in every known habitable portion of the globe the theory has been found to exist — sometimes hidden ; but individual cases have always been found, however remote or far apart, showing that the belief is by no means extinct.

F. E. D. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. NEKINA 9 H. SOWING THE TARES 13 HI. THE BANQUET 19 IV. MISPLACED AFFECTION 33 V. SUNSHINE ON THE WATERS . . . .39 "VT. CROOKED POLICY 46 vn. passion 50 vin. love 54 IX. CORRUPTION 65 X. ENVY, HATRED, AND MALICE . . . .71 XI. THE RECEPTION 87 XII. THE CIRCUS 104 XIII. METEMPSYCHOSIS 123 XIV. DEIFIED 135 XV. THE PRODIGAL'S RETURN . . . .167 XVI. A PLEASURE PARTY Contents. 8 CHAP. PAGE XVH. CAIN 198 XVIEL FRUIT RIPE FOR THE GATHERING . . . 214 XIX. TEMPTATION 232 XX. NOT LOST BUT GONE BEFORE . . . 239 XXI. MAKING READY 241 XXII. APPROPRIATION : VENGEANCE STAYED . . 245 XXIII. DEPARTURE 256 XXIV. WEDDED 262 XXV. BITTER WATERS 267 XXVI. SHADOWS FALLING . ... . . 282 XXVII. THE OLD, OLD TYPE 291 XXVIII. TURBID WATERS 299 XXIX. DARKNESS MADE LIGHT .... 301 XXX. "UPON US AND OUR CHILDREN." . . 319 XXXI. THE DREAM 325 XXXII. THE WORLD S JUDGMENT .... 332 XXXIII. CONVERGING LINES 340 XXXIV. REDEEMED 343 XXXV. PARADISE REGAINED

Chapter I. Nerina

" What did yon say ? " " I said that my lord would be displeased if his only child should wish to be excused from gracing this great festival banquet, when the Governor himself will be present." " And who is the Governor ? " scornfully asked the first speaker. " Has not my father entertained the Emperor himself in times gone by, and will there not be the fairest flowers of Roman beauty to grace the banquet ? " " There will be none so fair in my lord's eyes, sweet lady." The person who thus argued was a woman of perhaps forty years of age, with strikingly marked features of the Jewish cast : grave, thoughtful eyes and stately bearing. Her parents had been taken captive into Rome, and she herself had been brought up a slave in the palace of one of Rome's greatest nobles. The lord Hadrian was wealthy and powerful, exercising much authority in all public business, but holding himself aloof from all participation in the errors and complications of those corrupt times.

Rome, at the time our story commences, was under the governance of Serjanus, whose self-interest or policy made it convenient to keep his master, the Emperor, well amused and contented in the home he had made for himself in the Island of Capreæ. The Jewish woman looked anxiously into the face of the young girl at whose feet she knelt, weaving the most exquisite jewels into a chaplet for the adornment of the fair young head bending over her. " Why so grave, dear Nnrsie ? Have you not always been more friend than servant to the motherless girl you have ever tended and cherished with such devotion?" " Surely, my dear child," replied Naomi, " and have you not repaid me a thousandfold by giving me my freedom ? Bondage is a bitter yoke to a Jew." " But have I not heard you say that your father's people held slaves in their earlier days ?

And you, Naomi, can scarcely call yourself a Jew. Oh that the name were not so hated among my people ! " " And why should the lady Nerina interest herself about a race so fallen, so unhappy ? " "Tell me, Naomi, you have wild legends and deep Nerina. 11 lore of a period far remote, of lands far distant. I would learn more, know more. What of these great mysteries of a dead faith, a bygone age ? " " Oh, child, child ! Who should tell yon of these things ? Alas ! I know nothing. Bred up in the faith of your household, what should I, a heathen, know of the god or gods of my people ? " " But he, Naomi, the illustrious stranger. Have you not been present when he has conversed about these wonders ? What marvellous records has he not related ? Can you not see how much of deep knowledge that rapt brow conceals, hidden in the inmost brain beyond ?

Oh, I must be present at the feast, if only to hear him, to dream again upon those low, soft tones, those mysterious words." Naomi looked sharply up into the face of her young mistress. "And should the lord Hadrian's daughter be thus interested in the voice of a stranger ? Listen, dear lady. My lord welcomes to these proud halls the noblest and greatest of the patricians of this great city ; but does he know aught of this illustrious stranger ? Only one short year a resident in Rome : what more does anybody know than that he is of marvellous beauty, of unbounded wealth, versed in every science, noble in mien, and wise beyond his years, even had he attained the age of five hundred ? " " What is his age ? " asked Nerina. " It were, indeed, a marvel to guess ; but scarcely twenty-five years, I should think : that clear, olive brow is smooth, and the eyes are eyes of youth except " " Except when ?

" cried Nerina ; " tell me quickly. Surely you too have not seen those wondrous windows of the soul opened, displaying the world of subtle thought, the glorious fabric of the brain beyond ? " As the girl spoke, her whole soul seemed to quiver with emotion. Beautiful beyond a dream was this young daughter of the great Roman noble : of delicate, sensitive features, and eyes of deepest bluish grey, eyes whose ever varying shade it were impossible to describe, whose depths were more than human gaze could fathom. The young mother of Nerina was a native of Thessaly ; and the gentle, undulating grace of the Greek mother might be traced in each supple motion of her child. Dying when Nerina was but a few months old, the Jewish girl, Naomi — who had received much kindness from her young mistress — had taken the sole charge and care of the infant left to her tenderness and devotion, and had lavished upon her the utmost kindness and affection.

A sister of the lord Hadrian had resided with him up to the present time, but dying rather suddenly after a short illness, the young lady, Nerina, was left sole mistress and chatelaine of the princely home of a long line of illustrious nobility.

Chapter II. Sowing The Tares

The palace of Lord Hadrian stood in the best and wealthiest quarter of Rome. The polished marble steps leading to the central hall glistened in the sunlight, while the pillars of rare mosaic and porphyry were enriched with bands of pure dull gold, and were gar landed with wreaths of choicest flowers, and even decked with jewels. The banqueting hall was hung with white velvet and cloth of gold, richly emblazoned with the arms and insignia of the patrician ancestors. The seat, or divan of state, occupied the centre of the table. This richly designed place of honour was always occupied by the lord of the feast, and unless royalty was present in person, this rule was never infringed ; to no meaner guest did the master yield this magnificent banqueting throne, the canopy of which was supported by columns of unwrought gold, surmounted by a triple crown richly jewelled, according to the fashion of the age.

Officers of the State with their wives or daughters were frequently allowed to view the state apartments of these princely habitations, either before or after some more than extraordinary grand occasion. These were required to leave the guest chambers before the family assembled to receive those bidden to the feast. Among those persons, there lingered still one whose rank might have entitled him to remain an honoured guest ; a young man, of noble bearing, and not unprepossessing features ; but the eyes were deeply set and penetrating in expression. Entering the banqueting hall, he raised his eyes to contemplate in silent wonder the magnificent display of wealth and luxury. At this moment, a page, or young house-servant, appeared, entering by the door which opened from the upper end of the hall, which had been screened by rich velvet draperies bordered with gold embroideries.

Holding back the curtains, he sounded a silver horn which hung suspended from his girdle ; a second time he sounded it, and a bevy of young slaves dressed in white tunics entered through the portal, each bearing above his head a silver bowl containing choice roses of snowy whiteness, whose petals had been sprinkled with some adhesive liquid and lightly powdered over with diamond dust. Twelve other slaves dressed in palest blue came next in succession, bearing in upraised hands golden bowls of crimson roses dusted, as were the former, with the brilliant, sparkling dust. Placing the flowers upon the table they arranged themselves on either side of it, while the large vases of Venetian glass inlaid with gold and precious stones, Sowing tlie Tares. 15 vied with each other in lending magnificence to the festive board.

Delicacies from every known country, from the rarest birds of the far East, to the native oysters of the British Isles, were offered up to make the feast more costly and recherche. The stranger, who had loitered in the vestibule, advanced and ascended the steps, addressing the page boy thus : " A goodly preparation, my friend, and your lord entertains right royally. I see the canopy of state for the lord Hadrian, but where — if a stranger may make so bold — sits the lady who presides over all this magnificence ? Surely she must occupy some scarcely less important place of honour." " Our lady and mistress is but young, and courts not the grandeur and pomp of older chatelaines," returned the servant. " A jewel so rare needs no gaudy setting, sir stranger." The stranger advanced still nearer.

" Friend, I would be present at this brilliant as semblage, but not of it. Mark you my meaning? Behold my rank," and opening the cloak, which con cealed his attire, he disclosed to the astonished page the dress of an illustrious noble of the Roman Empire. "And wherefore does so noble a lord deign to come to these halls in secret and in disguise ? " exclaimed the servant, recognising, in the brighter light of the upper hall, the rank of the young Roman. " I have particular reasons, friend ; and if thou wilt render me a certain service I will not forget thee." Taking a jewel from his vestment he placed it in the hands of the page. The times of which we write were corrupt, even to the service of the highest menials. " And what would the Roman noble have at the hands of one so mean of office ?

" " A suit of livery, or badge of service, and a place secure from scrutiny — in a word, to see and hear without being seen." " I can give you a suit, truly, if your Excellency would deign to don my humble garments." " Ah, but who might be the chief guests ? Methinks it should be a rare gathering together of princely heads to do honour to so lordly a welcome." " The Governor and the chief of Rome's proud sons." "Ah! Romans ; but of the strangers?" " I know of none save the fair young Greek Deme trius, the lady Nerina's cousin, and the illustrious stranger Calderon." " Of that stranger ; he is of the visitors admitted to intimacy with the lord Hadrian and his daughter ? " " Surely, my master ; but follow me, as I may not loiter." The page led the way through a small curtained door way, and the remaining spectators of this princely scene began to disperse ere the assembling of the more Sowing tlie Tares. 17 favoured guests bidden to take part in the sumptuous entertainment.

" It may suit my purpose," exclaimed the young patrician, " to abstain from joining the revellers this evening." " My lord receives no revellers, your Excellency," answered the servant, with offended dignity. " The banquets here are of the chastest and daintiest. It matters nothing to him whether the uttermost South or the far East be ransacked to produce novelties ; but his friends must be pleased to remember that he presides at no revels, and countenances no debaucheries. He is stately of mien, and gifted in mind, opening his gates with royal hospitality to the noble and great ; but the roue or the gambler, accustomed to the general dissipation of the city, finds little to attract his capricious fancy where the men are proud and haughty in bearing and the ladies are chaste and pure." " Well, well, my wise ibis, keep your wisdom until another opportunity occurs for airing such moral senti ments, and get me the togs you spoke of, or, by Diana, I shall miss seeing sport."

" And who may I be lending these same garments to ? " questioned the inquisitive servitor. " If I were to say the Emperor you would take it a sorry joke, my humble prince of the pasties." " Seeing that His Imperial Majesty is old enough to have fathered your grandfather, perhaps I should," returned the pert attendant. "Now to your duties, then, and do not forget that many a man's secrets are cast abroad in a handful of jests if the dolts before whom he scatters them had the zest to pick them out. How shall I pass muster among yon herd ? " " To a hair's turn, if you would bring those haughty lines to a neater curve. A page's features, sir noble, are trained to wear a submissive cast, not to command obedience, and rule." " Ah ! You admit that I bear that distinctive mark, then. You are of the class that should judge, seeing that you come under the yoke.

And the people are the makers of kings. What sayest thou ? " " That, were the people the makers of kings, they would set up a king. They would brook neither a puppet nor an impostor, a shadow nor the deputy of a shadow." " Thou art over bold, young man. Your insinuations are too flimsily veiled to lead you far beyond the wild beasts' dens in your walks abroad." "There are bolder than I, Excellency, who play for higher stakes ; maybe when they sweep the tables, they may chance to throw a coin to those who set the boards and shaped the dice." " A cute villain, by Bacchus ! " mused the Roman.

Chapter III. The Banquet

The guests were arriving, and on the top of the polished steps and half way from the upper hall stood the lord Hadrian, a tall, majestic old man, richly costumed, as became his rank, his countenance bearing that unmis takable stamp of a noble life, which age never sets on the brow of sensuality and meanness. A noble life, whose energies had ever been directed to the higher aims of reconstructing the basis upon which the pillars of state were built up ; of introducing social reforms, rather by instilling purity into the minds of the people than by issuing edicts through the senate. Such was the lord of the feast ; the wealth and magnificence of which the people of Rome had come to witness. On his right hand stood the fairest form the eye of man had ever rested upon ; of scarcely middle height, slight and graceful, yet queenly, in its gentle dignity.

Her long robe of white satin was bordered deeply with gold, over which fell in soft folds a short over-skirt or tunic of golden sheen draped to fall in masses of gleaming coils on the marble pavement behind. The tunic was edged with a deep fringe of gold and jewels ; bands of pure, dull gold encircled the bare arms and neck, and the hanging sleeves were turned back from the shoulders with jewelled clasps. The soft masses of wavy hair were surmounted by the pretty chaplet we saw in the hands of Naomi this morning. Father and child ; chivalrous honour and unstained innocence ; fit companionship. Would that the earth were traversed by no less hallowed footsteps ! Smile on thy friends, grave man, and sweet confiding maiden ; nor dream that even here in these ancestral homes lurks a germ of evil to come, that over the smooth surface of the step on which thou standest passed but now the trail of the serpent.

But one more guest is expected. And as the richly attired nobles and their high-born dames file through the velvet-draped archways, or disport themselves about the rose-scented fountains, a tall, distinguished man advances and greets his host, bowing low before the young girl at his side. Followed at a distance by two foreign servants, he walked with slow, stately footsteps on Lord Hadrian's left hand, whose daughter was on his right. The stranger who had just arrived was a man who would enter no assemblage or place of public resort without attracting marked attention. There are persons who never do the most simple thing in life without being noticed. This distinguished stranger was one. The seat of honour next to the canopied throne was occupied by Serjanus the Governor. Opposite the lord Hadrian was seated the lady Nerina, on her right hand the handsome stranger ; the young Greek, her cousin, amusing himself on her left by asking, and answering himself almost as rapidly, questions relating to those guests with whom he had been well acquainted before travelling half over the world ; some of whom he had not met for three years or more.

Among those were the Marchesa Cæsario and her two daughters, Junia and Corelia, or Cora. " Tell me, fair cousin, why sits the beautiful Junia with clouded brow and silent tongue ? and my little playmate, Cora, methinks, has forgotten me. She was not wont to be so shy when we ran races on the Campagna a few years since." " But yon would scarcely expect her to run races with you now. Cora will be seventeen a month hence," returned Nerina. " Her haughty sister will run races for principalities, if the gods be propitious and provide the sports," asserted the Greek. " Nerina," continued her cousin, " who is my uncle's new friend, the stranger guest on your right hand ? " " A visitor to Rome, and a stranger — the lord Calderon." As the banquet proceeded, relays of delicacies, choice viands, and fresh fruits were served by young girls in white silk tunics wreathed with garlands of roses and almond blossom.

Iced wines and cooling beverages were offered from jewelled cups, and as the wine sparkled, the conversation became general ancl vivacious; but from the lips of none flowed a stream of eloquence so polished in its diction, so chastely phrased, as from those of Calderon. No one advanced theories so unique. The polish of travel, the refinement of culture, marked each sentence as it dropped in liquid tones, which rose and fell with easy grace. " And what news brought the Imperial messengers this morning from the East ? How do the people take to the new Governor ? I trust your Excellency has had a more satisfactory report." The speaker was the lord Hadrian. " Not so, my noble host. A cloud, no bigger, perhaps, than a man's hand at present, but a cloud is rising which threatens to be serious. These Jews have a bad faction in the priesthood ; openly acknowledging Roman supremacy, yet ever striving to incite the people covertly."

"What says our noble guest," questioned Hadrian, " who has travelled much, I believe, in this part of Asia ? Will the necks of these turbulent subjects continue to bend under a foreign yoke ? " " From personal observation and knowledge acquired amongst the inhabitants, Jerusalem has more to fear from the wolves within than the foes without her walls," returned Calderon. " Her priesthood, like the priest hoods in other cities, is in its last throes, and its abominations will ere long be laid bare before the face of the people. The taxes of the Roman gall not the shoulders so much as the harness and traces of au empty ceremonial. A law which has become hollow, statutes from which the spirit has departed. The people are asking for substance, and they are giving them a shadow." The Governor frowned, and was silent.

" Is our host's honoured guest a Jew ? " whispered the Marchesa, in low tones. "Methinks he speaks over warmly." The covert sarcasm did not escape Junia, who regarded her mother keenly. Perhaps some vague idea suggested itself to her quick understanding of a basis upon which to build up hopes to be realised in a time to come. " Does our old friend Demetrius honour the circus to morrow ? " queried a young noble, addressing the nephew of Hadrian across the table. " Ah, Paulus ! by Venus ! You have grown out of all knowledge. Where have you hidden yourself? and what does the circus offer in the way of temptations ? " returned the lively Demetrius. " What temptations does youth and gallantry desire beyond the bright eyes and seductive charms, the beauty of the syren, the wiles of the sorceress," ran on the volatile young patrician, with a glance at the pretty Cora.

The Marchesa signed to the Greek, and he was not long in finding a seat near her, or in renewing the relations between them which had existed in the past. " And whence comes the brillant stranger who seems to have gained so easy a footing within the palace ? " asked Demetrius, carelessly regarding the easy bearing of, and confidential tete-d-Ute carried on between, the illustrious visitor and Nerina, interspersed with a word and a smile from time to time from her father. " Of the antecedents of the noble Calderon, I believe nothing is known," returned the Marchesa, " as he either disdains or is ashamed to render an account of his lineage. He has resided in Rome about a year, in all the luxury of wealth, without ostentation. The women idolise, their lords look askance, but the dazzling stranger vouchsafes no replies to idle curiosity."

" But why comes he attended by his own outlandish attendants ? Surely there are servants enough and to spare in the palace. By Bacchus, how handsome he is ! " Tlie Banquet. 25 " But the mystery and distinction would be lessened if the foreigner took his place as a mere citizen," hazarded the pretty Cora, with a shy glance into the face of the young Greek. " A distinction by no means to be envied, if all reports run true," scoffed her sister. " The peerless Nerina is doubtless well acquainted with the history of her guest, or is conveniently willing to dispense with the ceremonial of inquiry into the past career of so attractive a follower in her train. Certainly he appears to have made himself indispensable at the lord Hadrian's court." The Marchesa was vexed. She had not intended the conversation to take so impolitic a turn ; and the young noble was frowning at the rudeness directed towards liis cousin.

The gentle Cora came to the rescue, and a few lively sallies restored things to a more pleasant footing. Meanwhile the banquet had reached its height, the wine again sparkled in the cup, and as the bubbles rose to the surface, the conversation rose in sparkling humour and brilliant wit. Opposite to the lord Calderon and near the lord Hadrian's chair, sat a lady of dazzling beauty ; but the beauty was of the type which speaks all of body and nothing of the soul. Sparkling and vivacious, she charmed all who listened to her eloquent little speeches. She was robed in pale-blue velvet, glittering with silver stars, the bodice of which, loosely hanging from the shoulders, fell in soft folds and drooped low clown upon the fair bosom, which glistened with jewels. "Rich and rare were the gems she wore."

The fair Astarte was the wife of the Governor, and daughter-in-law of Tiberius. When the Greek returned to his seat by Nerina, the Governor's wife addressed him. Leaning across the table, and assuming one of her most fascinating poses, while her eyes rested on the dark beauty of Calderon, she said, — " And wherefore comes not the noble Demetrius to our palace ? Methinks to be three days in the city without seeking our society were but poor compliment to our hospitality. Where should friends and strangers alike find their best welcome to Rome but in the halls of Rome's Imperial representative ? " The invitation was addressed to Demetrius, but it was intended for Calderon. Demetrius laughingly accepted the invitation, and met the syren's advances with careless nonchalance ; but her eyes still dwelt questioningly upon the face of Calderon.

" Those who amuse themselves in toying with the casket would be the first to fall under suspicion, should the jewels be rifled," whispered the stranger, under cover of the hum of general conversation. Tlie Banquet. 27 The lady Astarte regarded him with sweetly smiling lips and a little fluttering sigh. Neither the words nor the gently expressed disappointment were lost upon the listening ear of one, who, partially screened by a fall of drapery, had been enabled to hear much of the conversation carried on between those guests who were nearest the portiere. " So, ho, sings the charmer, in a fresh grove this evening," soliloquised the quondam page, "and lives there so rare an avis that the bulbul's soft cooing has failed to draw to her nest ? Would that ye twain had but one neck ! " he hissed, " and that my foot were upon it !

Or that yon haughty interloper might fall beneath the seductive graces of the gauzy wings so ready to spread around him. Ah, a feast, indeed, to offer up to the gods, or to the State : and who shall be representing the State when the feasts come round again ? Fall upon each other, wolves ; drink yourselves into senility, sensualists ; set all your canvas to the winds, fair barques of feminine frailty : let Rome revel in her debauchery and corruption ! He who was born in a camp and reared by strangers can afford to wait until ye have made yourselves as mad as the dotard who claims to rule ye." As Calderon stooped to pick up a white rose that had fallen at his feet from one of the bowls of the freshly scented flowers just brought in, he brushed it lightly Tlie Dream of Pilate's Wife. across his lips and laid it on the table at his left hand, carelessly enough ; but when the guests rose from the table the glance of Junia rested upon the flower, and lingered there, until the lady Nerina placed it in her girdle.

A simple action as had been that of Calderon. As the lady Astarte looked at the girl sitting in her simple beauty in all its freshness, perhaps for the first time she realised how great an attraction she would be at a court where beauty was not wanting truly, but the fresh rosebud innocence of girlhood was all but un known. Girls of fifteen were finished coquettes ; and the popularity of the Imperial receptions must be maintained at any cost, even at the great price of bringing beauty fairer than her own to adorn the palaces of the Cæsars. Again addressing Calderon, she whispered in her softest Greek, — " Our noble visitor to Rome lacks none of our native Greek gallantry. Methinks some of these proud Romans might assimilate their manners to those of the courtly strangers who deign to accept the hospitality of our poor city "• — looking enviously at the rose.

" May it not rather be, fair Thessalian, that Romans, wedded to the soil, have greater need to steel their hearts against the enchantments of so much beauty and grace than those homeless wanderers who are free to fly from the flight of arrows discharged by Dan Cupid from behind the entrenchments of bright eyes ancl coral lips ? " The reply was in Greek also. The temptress glanced coyly into the dark eyes, but there was no answering smile. The lip service of gallantry must be accompanied by the soft glance ; the language of the heart speaks through the eyes, the true windows of the soul. Nobody knows this better than the pretty woman who has spread her blandishments before the admiring eyes of one for whom she has con ceived a fickle fancy ; the false keynote falls upon her ear like the grating of cold steel.