"That thou hast come unto thine own, that thou hast triumphed and the day of fulfillment hath dawned, that the Jews of the hallowed soil of Canaan have again a king from among them, I give thee congratulations and God-speed, and offer thanks to the God of our fathers. "Would to that same God who hath magnified thee, that the sway of thy scepter extended unto us, here, in Alexandria. "Our misfortunes are beyond words. Particularly am I most unfortunate. Because of my friendliness to the alabarch, and subsequent turning upon Flaccus in thine own extremity, I am reduced to the utmost poverty, having neither food nor raiment beyond that which a faithful freedman supplies me out of his own little store. "Since mine own people are imprisoned within a fourth of their territory, nor one permitted to come forth upon pain of dreadful death, I can not hope for help from them, much less from the Gentiles, who take particular delight in my humiliation. "In thee I have hope. I pray thee number me among thy helpless ones and give me of thy bounty something to do to clothe and feed me, and sufficiently gentle that I may not be proscribed among my kind--" Agrippa broke off and laughed aloud. "Why read more? Is it not enough?" "Enough," Marsyas said slowly. "But by thy leave, lord, we would know what thou wilt say to him." "A just demand; for thou and not I didst suffer at his hands. I shall tell him that I laid the matter before thee and that thou---" "Nay, then, lord," Marsyas broke in earnestly, "if thou carest in all earnestness for my suggestion, pray let me make it!" "But I believe that I anticipated it and commanded the answer so to be written." There was a little regretful silence, and Agrippa leaned toward Marsyas. "What abideth there, Marsyas?" he asked, touching the young man's forehead. After a pause, Marsyas raised his head. "The full length of mine own story leadeth up to the answer," he said. "Nay, then, speak!" Asking permission of Cypros with her eyes, Lydia arose from her place on her cushion, and came to Marsyas' side. He put his arm about her and held her hand, and so she stood while he told his story. Agrippa and Cypros listened with ordinary interest until he began to tell of his ride across the desert in pursuit of Saul. Then Agrippa's excitement-loving instincts stirred, and he sat up and contemplated Marsyas with arrested attention. At the sighting of the Pharisee far down the road beyond Caucabe, the king's eyes sparkled; when Marsyas rode upon the party at the pool, Agrippa's hand on the arm of his throne had clenched. At Marsyas' dismounting and approach, the king muttered under his breath. "But at that instant," the narrator went on, showing the effects of his own story, "a light, such as never before descended upon the earth and will not come again until the Prince of Light cometh, stood among us; at which we all fell to the ground as though stricken by a thunderbolt!" Agrippa's brows knitted.