, the daughter of Benoni?"

"Rachel!" she answered, starting. "Alas! child, how came you here?"

"By the paths that we Christians have to tread, mother," said Rachel,
sadly. "But sit; you are weary. Nou, help her."

Anna nodded, and slowly, for her limbs were stiff, sank down on to the
step of the fountain.

"Give me to drink, child," she said, "for I have been brought upon a
mule from Tyre, and am athirst."

Rachel made her hands into a cup, for she had no other, and held water
to Anna's lips, which she drank greedily, emptying them many times.

"For this refreshment, God be praised. What said you? The daughter of
Benoni a Christian! Well, even here and now, for that God be praised
also. Strange that I should not have heard of it; but I have been in
Jerusalem these two years, and was brought back to Tyre last Sabbath as
a prisoner."

"Yes, Mother, and since then I have become both wife and widow."

"Whom did you marry, child?"

"Demas, the merchant. They killed him in the amphitheatre yonder at
Berytus six months ago," and the poor woman began to sob.

"I heard of his end," replied Anna. "It was a good and noble one, and
his soul rests in Heaven. He would not fight with the gladiators, so he
was beheaded by order of Agrippa. But cease weeping, child, and tell me
your story. We have little time for tears, who, perhaps, soon will have
done with them."

Rachel dried her eyes.

"It is short and sad," she said. "Demas and I met often and learned to
love each other. My father was no friend to him, for they were rivals in
trade, but in those days knowing no better, Demas followed the faith
of the Jews; therefore, because he was rich my father consented to our
marriage, and they became partners in their business. Afterwards,
within a month indeed, the Apostles came to Tyre, and we attended their
preaching--at first, because we were curious to learn the truth of this
new faith against which my father railed, for, as you know, he is of the
strictest sect of the Jews; and then, because our hearts were touched.
So in the end we believed, and were baptised, both on one night, by
the very hand of the brother of the Lord. The holy Apostles departed,
blessing us before they went, and Demas, who would play no double part,
told my father of what we had done. Oh! mother, it was awful to see. He
raved, shouted and cursed us in his rage, blaspheming Him we worship.
More, woe is me that I should have to tell it: When we refuse