"My God!" she cried, "it is too late; he is dead." Then she dropped back breathless and waxen as the little form which she still held close in her arms.
Ben Hesed caught her as she fell; he looked about him for help.
"Here is water," said a voice at his side, and looking up he saw, to his intense astonishment, Seth, the Egyptian lad. At the same moment the boy recognized him, and started back with a little cry.
"This is no time to speak of what concerneth thee and me," said Ben Hesed sternly. "Give me the water!" And he fell to sprinkling the face of the woman with no sparing hand.
"They are coming!" shouted the lad. "Stay! I will bring him hither," and he darted away into the throng.
Ben Hesed looked after him quietly. "The wicked flee when no man pursueth," he said under his breath, "yet shall sure wrath overtake him, neither shall a swift foot deliver him. Come!" he added, turning to his son, "let us bear this woman hence; there is now no further need to wait for them that heal."
CHAPTER XVI.
A ROLL OF PARCHMENT.
"Thou canst hear for thyself how Jerusalem is on an uproar; the credulous and ignorant from all the country round about are crowding into the city bringing their sick with them."
"'Tis worse even than when the man himself was alive; but what can we do?"