Ben-Hur; a tale of the Christ

basket on arm. No questions were asked her by the keepers, since the morning itself had not been mor

meeting of the Bethany roads; past the sepulchral village of Siloam she went. Occasionally the decrepit little body staggered; once she sat down to get her breath; rising shortly, she struggled on with renewed haste. The great rocks on either hand, if they had had ears, might have heard her mutter to herself; cou

her gait; for then the grim city of the lepers was in v

she was going to her mistress, whose tomb, it w

malady had been terribly swift in the three years. Conscious of her appearance, with the refined instincts of h

. The eyelids, the lips, the nostrils, the flesh of the cheeks, were either gone or reduced to fetid rawness. The neck was a mass of ash-colored scales. One hand lay outside the folds of her habit rigid as that of a skeleton; the nails had been eaten away; the joints of the fingers, if not bare to the b

ormer plentitude of happiness, that brief visit was all that remained to the unfortunate. She could then ask about her son, and be told of his welfare, with such bits of news concerning him as the messenger could glean. Usually the information was meagre enough, yet comforting; at times she heard he was at home; then she would issue from her dreary cell at break of day, and sit till noon, and from noon

they could not uproot. Look where she would, the view was made depressingly suggestive by tombs--tombs above her, tombs below, tombs opposite her own tomb--all now freshly whitened in warning to visiting pilgrims. In the sky--clear, fair, inviting--one would think she might have found some relief to her ache of mind;

e did not make an e

W FORB

the answer; but so wi

th thoughts even more cheerless, suddenly a woman

ing her head, cried, in a voice un

t forth: with tears and passionate exclamations she kissed her mistress's garments, and for a while the latter

dience you prove your love for us? Wicked woman! You are los

led sobbing

o Jerusalem. What will become of us? Who will bring us br

Amrah answered

t merciful to us. Now where can we fly? There is no one to help us.

f-clad apparition, patched with scales, lividly seamed, nearly blind, its limbs and extremities swollen to grotesque largeness,

Amrah,

ried to crawl

Rise, and get you gone before any at the well see you here. Nay, I forg

with clasped hands, "O good mistress! I am not f

ke, the widow half withdre

o cure you. He speaks a word, and the sick are made well, and

said Tirzah, c

f Israel, my God as well as yours, I speak the truth. Go with me, I pray, and lose no time. This morning

ad heard of the wonderful man, for by this time

he?" s

azar

d you ab

ud

d you? Is

e last

ill the beating of her

ou to tell us thi

elieves y

ghtfully to Tirzah; "but he had his power from God." Then addressi

l, and saw them go away well. First there was one man

was done by the Christ, as well as the myriads who have succeeded them. She did not question the 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

t be the

rael familiar with the promises of God to her race--a woman of understandin

By this time he should be a man. It must be--it is he. Yes," she said to Amrah, "we will go with you. Bri

oubled 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 thir

ntentions of the man they were going to see, if they could. She discerned, also, that both Amrah and Tirzah--the one from

said to them. "There, if the Lord fav

ng's Garden, and paused in the deep trail fu

e rocks and trees. This is feast-day, and on the hill-sides yonder I see signs of a grea

eat difficulty; upon hearing th

eep, mother; I c

e day brightens around us! And yonder are women coming this way to the

the persons of the afflicted, nor they her; now, in disregard of consequences as well as of command, the faithful creature went to Tirzah, and

upon the top to rest, and looked at the spectacle presented them over in the northwest--at the Temple and its courtly terraces, a

ightness for brightness! Do you remember we used to go up there? Will it not be pleasant to do so again? And think--home

g that way next, thin columns of smoke rising lightly and straight up into the pulseless morning, eac

the least, the girl moaned at every step; sometimes in extremity of anguish she cried out. Upon reaching the road

ther, and leave me he

healed and you not? When Judah asks for you, as he wil

im I lo

supremest joy of the thought of cure was inseparable from Tirzah, who was not too old to forget, in the happiness of healthful life to come, the years of misery by which she had been so reduced

" she said. "Yonder I know is

itting posture, and supporte

are. The stranger will go around us; his bes

will

l and sadly acquainted with the treatment outcasts of the class to

rookedly through tumuli of limestone. If the stranger kept it, he must meet them face to face; and he did so, until near

an, un

e, the man cam

asked, stopping opposite

a care," the mother

speaketh but once to such as thou an

Nazar

ssiah,"

t he cometh to

ow at Be

t road,

is

hands, and looke

thou him?" the ma

f God," sh

h by fail not to call to him; call, and fear not. If thy faith but equal thy knowledge, he will hear thee though all the heavens thunder. I

anger m

road, on this one, and he will hear us. Once more, my chil

ose; but as they were going, Amrah said, "Stay;

the Nazarene arrives, and that the city is near by to give me refreshment should I need it, I thought

imes carried with them in their journeys across the hills; and instead of placing the gift

ew?" she aske

example this thing which I have done unto you. The world hath long known the word c

in front of it, the mother satisfied herself they could be seen and heard plainly by passers-by whose notice they desired to attract. There they cast themsel