Chapter 2

‘Sometimes I have thought,’ said Mariamne soberly, ‘that a baby Prince should be left on the doorstep of an honest, frugal, hard-working family and brought up as their son until he is about—’

‘Twenty?’ suggested Arnon, when the Queen had seemed at a loss for the right figure.

‘Forty!’ amended Mariamne. ‘Then he should be brought to the throne, knowing what his people need. As it stands, there is nobody in the kingdom quite so ignorant of his duties as the ruler himself. He lives in a different world.’ After an interval of silence she asked, abruptly, ‘Is anything else wrong, dear?’

‘Almost everything,’ confessed Arnon. ‘Everything but you! It may be my own fault. I cannot be myself here. In my own country I am happy and free. I love to ride. The shepherds wave a hand and smile as I pass by and I wave my hand and smile too. We are friends. Their wives and daughters weave gay scarves for me and I visit them when they are sick. Often I stop at their tents and play with the little children.’

‘That is as it should be,’ approved Mariamne. ‘And they are not in awe of you, as the King’s daughter?’

‘They call me “Princess,” but when we play they do not throw the game away to humour me. Maybe that is what ails a royal family: they are allowed to win all the games…Here in Jerusalem I am a Princess; always, every hour, a Princess. I am unused to these stiff ceremonies—people bowing worshipfully—and backing out of the room. I have to change my costumes half a dozen times a day, and none of them is comfortable. Everything is strange—and I am becoming a stranger even to myself.’ Her voice broke completely. ‘Please—may I not go home—just for a little while?’

There was a long delay before Mariamne replied.

‘I wish you might, Arnon. Doubtless the King would consent if it were not for this military alliance. If it should come to the ears of the Emperor—’

‘I understand,’ said Arnon weakly. ‘Let us think no more about it…And—I should like to go with you to the Temple. Is the Prince going with us?’

Mariamne frowned and shook her head.

‘Antipas set off early this morning for the north. You know he has been made the ruler of Galilee?’

‘Yes, mother. He did not tell me, but I heard a friend congratulate him on it, at our wedding. Are we to live in Galilee?’

‘Part of the time, perhaps,’ said Mariamne uncertainly. ‘Antipas is a restless fellow. He does not like to stay long in one place. The King is building a Galilean embassy here in the city. Antipas will spend a couple of months every year in Jerusalem, attending to provincial business. He loves Rome, and I dare say he will want to be there occasionally. At the moment he is infatuated with the idea of building a beautiful villa on the western shore of the Lake Gennesaret in Galilee.’

Arnon brightened.