"Thou dost not speak of Jesus of Nazareth?" Mary asked.
"Even of him," the aged woman answered.
"Art thou of his acquaintance?" Debora asked with interest.
"Even more, for was not the mother of her who bare Jesus even the sister of my father?"
"Thy kinsman he is? Thou hast looked upon his face and heard the wondrous voice that doth drive away fever?"
"Yea, have I seen and heard, both the son and his mother and father, for twice did I visit under the roof of my cousin."
"His mother—what of her? Is she skilled in savoring rich sop?" Martha asked.
"She hath not possessed the wherewithal to make rich sop, yet in her veins runneth the blood of kings. Of the house of David hath she come."
"And where hath she been in hiding, this royal-blooded Jewess?" Huldah asked.
"In the rude home of a Galilean peasant, for poverty hath been her lot.
Yea, in the stone feed-trough of a cattle shed was Jesus born because
his father had not the price of keep at the inn. A little lad at
Nazareth was he when I first saw him."