daily
avocations. Here Zarah would pursue her homely occupation of spinning,
and Hadassah copy out on rolls of vellum portions from the Law and the
Prophets. This latter occupation was fraught with peril; and had
Hadassah been discovered in the act of transcribing from the sacred
pages, it might have cost her her life. Antiochus had eagerly sought
to destroy all copies of the Scriptures, or to profane them by having
vile pictures painted on the margins. To possess--far more to copy
out--God's Holy Word was now a capital offence. But the faith of
Hadassah seemed to raise her above all personal fear; the peril
connected with her pious labours made her but more earnestly pursue
them. The presence of the young Gentile in her dwelling was a source
of far greater uneasiness to the widow, than any danger which
threatened herself.

Had Hadassah been able to seclude her patient entirely, she would
willingly have discharged the duties of hospitality towards him; but
such seclusion the scanty accommodation of her dwelling would have
rendered impossible, even had Lycidas been willing to submit to perfect
isolation. But this was by no means the case. Not only did he require
the curtain frequently to be drawn back to enable him freely to
breathe; but the Greek, as his strength increased, was eager to be seen
as well as to see, and to speak as well as to listen. No anxious
warnings of danger to be apprehended from the sudden entrance of
Abishai could prevent Lycidas from dragging his languid limbs beyond
the limits which the curtain defined, and joining in social converse.
Lycidas resolutely shut his eyes to the fact that, to his hostess at
least, his presence was unwelcome. He deceived himself into the belief
that he was rather repaying the kindness which he had received, by
lightening the dulness of the secluded lives led by the Hebrew ladies.
The young Athenian drew forth for their amusement all the rich stores
of his cultivated mind. Now he recited wondrous tales of other lands;
now gave vivid descriptions of adventures of his own; poetry flowed
spontaneously from his lips like a stream--now sparkling with fancy,
now deepening into pathos; Lycidas had in Athens been compared to
Apollo, as much for his mental gifts as his singular personal beauty.

To the brilliant conversation of the stranger, so unlike what she ever
had heard before, Zarah listened with innocent pleasure. She was ever
obedient to her aged relative,