"I, too, received the command," was the answer, "and I, too, am ready to go to the world's end, if need be!"
"Surely there must be truth in what you say," muttered the man. Then his glance fell on Joel. "You, too?" he questioned.
"Nay, he is but a lad," answered Phineas, before Joel could find words to answer him. "Come! we must hasten home."
Joel talked little during the next few days, and stole away often to think by himself, in the quiet little upper chamber on the roof.
Phineas was making his preparations to go back to Jerusalem; and he urged the boy to go back with him, and accept Simon's offer. Abigail, too, added her persuasions to his; and even old Rabbi Amos came down one day, and sat for an hour under the fig-trees, painting in glowing colors the life that might be his for the choosing.
It was a very alluring prospect; it had been the dream of his life to travel in far countries. He pictured himself surrounded by wealth and culture; he would be able to do so much for his old friends. He could give back to Jesse and Ruth a hundred fold, what had been bestowed on him; and the poor—how much he could help them, when he received a son's portion from the wealthy Simon! O the hearts he could make glad, all up and down the land!
The old day-dreams he used to delight in danced temptingly before him. As he stood idly beside the work-bench one afternoon, thinking of such a future, a soft step behind him made him turn. The hammer fell from his hand to the grass, as he saw the woman who came timidly to meet him.
"Why, Aunt Leah!" he cried. "What brought you here?"
He had not seen her since the night his Uncle Laban had driven him from home.
She drew aside her veil, and looked at him. "I heard you had been healed," she said, "and I have always wanted to come and see you, and tell you how glad I am; but my husband forbade it. Child!" she cried abruptly, "how much you look like your father! The likeness is startling!"