Did she speak of the
taskmaster?
"Thou hast found it so?" he asked.
"Thou hast said." She added no more, though the sculptor was eager for
an example.
"How goes it with the statue?" she asked, seeing that he did not move
out of her path.
"Slowly," he answered. "But it shall hasten to completeness when I
once begin."
"What wilt thou do with it when it is done? Destroy it?"
He shook his head with a smile.
"Leave it there to betray thee to the vengeance of the priesthood one
day?"
"I have no fear of discovery."
"Nay, but fear or unfear never yet warded off misfortune," she said
gravely. "It is better to entertain causeless concern than unwise
confidence."
He eagerly accepted this establishment of equality between them, and
overshot his mark.
"Advise me, Rachel. What should I do?"
She gazed at him for a moment distrustfully, wondering if he mocked her
and asking herself if she had not deserved it in assuming comradeship
with him.
"Nay, it is not my place, my master," she said. "I did forget."
He put his hand on hers with considerable determination in his manner.
"Let us make an end to this eternal emphasis of different rank. I
would forget it, Rachel.
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