When she took the crystal from her lips, she laughed at him.
"O son of Hur, is it a fashion of the very brave to be so easily overcome by a woman?
Take the cup now, and see if you cannot find a happy word in it for me" He took the cup, and stooped to refill it.
"A son of Israel has no gods whom he can libate," he said, playing with the water to hide his amazement, now greater than before.

What more did the Egyptian know about him?
Had she been told of his relations with Simonides?
And there was the treaty with Ilderim--had she knowledge of that also?
He was struck with mistrust.

Somebody had betrayed his secrets, and they were serious.

And, besides, he was going to Jerusalem, just then of all the world the place where such intelligence possessed by an enemy might be most dangerous to him, his associates, and the cause.
But was she an enemy?
It is well for us that, while writing is slow, thought is instantaneous.

When the cup was fairly cooled, he filled it and arose, saying, with indifference well affected, "Most fair, were I an Egyptian or a Greek or a Roman, I would say"-- he raised the goblet overhead as he spoke--"O ye better gods! I give thanks that there are yet left to the world, despite its wrongs and sufferings, the charm of beauty and the solace of love, and I drink to her who best represents them--to Iras, loveliest of the daughters of the Nile!" She laid her hand softly upon his shoulder.
"You have offended against the law.