performance, for her own son was the witness testifying through
the servant; but she strove to comprehend the power by which work
so astonishing could be done by a man. Well enough to make inquiry
as to the fact; to comprehend the power, on the other hand, it is
first necessary to comprehend God; and he who waits for that will
die waiting. With her, however, the hesitation was brief. To Tirzah
she said,

"This must be the Messiah!"

She spoke not coldly, like one reasoning a doubt away, but as a
woman of Israel familiar with the promises of God to her race--a
woman of understanding, ready to be glad over the least sign of
the realization of the promises.

"There was a time when Jerusalem and all Judea were filled with a
story that he was born. I remember it. By this time he should be
a man. It must be--it is he. Yes," she said to Amrah, "we will go
with you. Bring the water which you will find in the tomb in a jar,
and set the food for us. We will eat and be gone."

The breakfast, partaken under excitement, was soon despatched, and the
three women set out on their extraordinary journey. As Tirzah had
caught the confident spirit of the others, there was but one fear
that troubled the party. Bethany, Amrah said, was the town the man
was coming from; now from that to Jerusalem there were three roads,
or rather paths--one over the first summit of Olivet, a second
at its base, a third between the second summit and the Mount
of Offence. The three were not far apart; far enough, however,
to make it possible for the unfortunates to miss the Nazarene if
they failed the one he chose to come by.

A little questioning satisfied the mother that Amrah knew nothing
of the country beyond the Cedron, and even less of the intentions
of the man they were going to see, if they could. She discerned,
also, that both Amrah and Tirzah--the one from confirmed habits
of servitude, the other from natural dependency--looked to her
for guidance; and she accepted the charge.

"We will go first to Bethphage," she said to them. "There, if the
Lord favor us, we may learn what else to do."

They descended the hill to Tophet and the King's Garden, and paused
in the deep trail furrowed through them by centuries of wayfaring.

"I am afraid of the road," the matron said. "Better that we keep
to the country among the rocks and trees. This is feast-day,
and on the hill-sides yonder I see signs of a great multitude
in attendance. By going across th