"Now, Isaac, do you go on, and do your part. Tell them gently that Jonas has returned, that he has been a slave, and escaped from the Romans; and that, as far as he knows, I am yet alive. Then, when they are prepared, bring him in, and let him answer their questions."
The evening meal had been ended before Isaac had left the room to feed, with some warm milk, a kid whose dam had died. It was while he was engaged upon this duty that Jonas had come upon him. When he entered the room Simon was sitting, with the open Bible before him, at the head of the table; waiting his return to commence the evening prayers.
"What has detained you, Isaac?" he asked. "Surely it is not after all these years you would forget our evening prayers?"
"I was detained," the old man said, unsteadily and, at the sound of his voice, and the sight of his face, as it came within the circle of the light from the lamp, Mary rose suddenly to her feet, and stood looking at him.
"What is it?" she asked, in a low voice.
"Why," Simon asked calmly, "what has detained you, Isaac?"
"A strange thing has happened," the old man said. "One of our wanderers has returned--not he whom we have hoped and prayed for most--but Jonas. He has been a slave, but has escaped, and come back to us."
"And what is his news?" Simon asked, rising to his feet; but even more imperative was the unspoken question on Mary's white face, and parted lips.
"He gives us hope," Isaac said to her. "So far as he knows, John may yet be alive."
"I knew it, I knew it!" Mary said, in a voice scarcely above a whisper.