Judas mused for a while; then he said:
"Dion had an advocate."
"Who?" exclaimed she. "I thought all were against him."
"Not all, Deborah. As I sat there to judge, you yourself seemed to stand before me. You said, 'I have trusted this man; and will trust him. One who has done such things for my father's house cannot be untrue to any one or to any cause.' And, Deborah, you won your case—as you always do with me."
"Judas," replied she, "God is in this matter. I was with you, though I knew it not. I was in prayer. I used the very words you have just spoken. I said, 'O Lord, I have trusted this man. One who has done such things for my father's house cannot be untrue.' I prayed that Heaven would send his vindication."
"Deborah," replied Judas, "are we two so near to each other that soul speaks to soul without words?"
"God is near to us both, Judas. This I know. He leads me, and He leads you, as He leads all men by you. And what think you, my brother—for such, and father, too, you are to me—is not God near to some Gentiles—to Dion? He has given this man our faith, our spirit of sacrifice, though he is separated from us in blood."
The conversation was broken into by a loud outcry in the court, which rang through the house and seemed to fall back again in shatters out of the sky.
"Dion's free! Dion's free!"