he other, in a
low voice,

"This is it, Tirzah!"

And Tirzah, after a look, caught her mother's hand, and leaned
upon her heavily, sobbing, but silent.

"Let us go on, my child, because"--the mother hesitated and trembled;
then, with an effort to be calm, continued--"because when morning
comes they will put us out of the gate of the city to--return no
more."

Tirzah sank almost to the stones.

"Ah, yes!" she said, between sobs; "I forgot. I had the feeling
of going home. But we are lepers, and have no homes; we belong
to the dead!"

The mother stooped and raised her tenderly, saying, "We have
nothing to fear. Let us go on."

Indeed, lifting their empty hands, they could have run upon a
legion and put it to flight.

And, creeping in close to the rough wall, they glided on, like two
ghosts, till they came to the gate, before which they also paused.
Seeing the board, they stepped upon the stone in the scarce cold
tracks of Ben-Hur, and read the inscription--"This is the Property
of the Emperor."

Then the mother clasped her hands, and, with upraised eyes,
moaned in unutterable anguish.

"What now, mother? You scare me!"

And the answer was, presently, "Oh, Tirzah, the poor are dead! He
is dead!"

"Who, mother?"

"Your brother! They took everything from him--everything--even
this house!"

"Poor!" said Tirzah, vacantly.

"He will never be able to help us."

"And then, mother?"

"To-morrow--to-morrow, my child, we must find a seat by the wayside,
and beg alms as the lepers do; beg, or--"

Tirzah leaned upon her again, and said, whispering, "Let us--let
us die!"

"No!" the mother said, firmly. "The Lord has appointed our times,
and we are believers in the Lord. We will wait on him even in this.
Come away!"

She caught Tirzah's hand as she spoke, and hastened to the west
corner of the house, keeping close to the wall. No one being in
sight there, they kept on to the next corner, and shrank from
the moonlight, which lay exceedingly bright over the whole south
front, and along a part of the street. The mother's will was
strong. Casting one look back and up to the windows on the west
side, she stepped out into the light, drawing Tirzah after her;
and the extent of their amiction was then to be seen--on their
lips and cheeks, in their bleared eyes, in their cracked hands;
especially in the long, snaky locks, stiff with loathsome ichor,
and, like their eyebrows, ghastly white. Nor was it possible to