They had barely finished, when an old man appeared in the doorway; his long beard and hair were white as the abba he wore.
Phineas would have bowed himself to the ground before him, but the old man prevented it, by hurrying to take both hands in his, and kiss him on each cheek.
"Peace be to thee, thou son of my good friend Jesse!" he said. "Thou art indeed most welcome."
Joel lagged behind. He was always sensitive about meeting strangers; but the man's cordial welcome soon put him at his ease.
He was left to himself a great deal during the few days following. The business on which the old man had summoned Phineas required long consultations.
One day they rode away together to some outlying pastures, and were gone until night-fall. Joel did not miss them. He was spending long happy hours in the country sunshine. There was something to entertain him, every way he turned. For a while he amused himself by sitting in the door and poring over a roll of parchment that Sarah, the wife of Nathan ben Obed, brought him to read.
She was an old woman, but one would have found it hard to think so, had he seen how briskly she went about her duties of caring for such a large household.
After Joel had read for some little time, he became aware that some one was singing outside, in a whining, monotonous way, and he laid down his book to listen. The voice was not loud, but so penetrating he could not shut it out, and fix his mind on his story again. So he rolled up the parchment and laid it on the chest from which it had been taken; then winding his handkerchief around his head, turban fashion, he limped out in the direction of the voice.
Just around the corner of the house, under a great oak-tree, a woman sat churning. From three smooth poles joined at the top to form a tripod, a goat-skin bag hung by long leather straps. This was filled with cream; she was slapping it violently back and forth in time to her weird song.
Her feet were bare, and she wore only a coarse cotton dress. But a gay red handkerchief covered her black hair, and heavy copper rings hung from her nose and ears.