Gideon went out on the flat roof with his daughter.
"Tafet tells me," said he, when they were alone, "that Thou art always in the house. Why is this? Thou shouldst look at least on the garden."
"I am afraid," whispered Sarah.
"Why be afraid of thy own garden? Here Thou art mistress, a great lady."
"Once I went out in the daytime. People of some sort stared at me, and said to one another, 'Look! that is the heir's Jewess; she delays the overflow.'."
"They are fools!" interrupted Gideon. "Is this the first time that the
Nile is late in its overflow? But go out in the evening."
Sarah shook her head with greater vigor.
"I do not wish, I do not wish. Another time I went out in the evening. All at once two women pushed out from a side path. I was frightened and wished to flee, when one of them, the younger and smaller, seized my hands, saying, 'Do not flee, we must look at thee;' the second, the elder and taller, stood some steps in front and looked me in the eyes directly. Ah, father, I thought that I should turn into stone. What a look, what a woman!"
"Who could she be?" asked Gideon.
"The elder woman looked like a priestess."