The blind boy stood in an attitude of listening. Then he cried excitedly, "Aye! He comes. I hear Captain Dion's voice in the street. He has turned the corner—now he is at the door."
Dion stood before them.
For a little he was speechless, as if the words he would speak were too cruel to utter. He did not even lift his eyes to the young woman's face.
"Do not speak, sir!" said Deborah. "I know it all. My father has been slain by your people."
"Nay, not slain," replied the Greek. "Your father's God has taken him. As Zeus lives—as Jehovah lives—Elkiah died as only the greatest and best of men can die; no hand struck the blow. On the steps of the altar of his God he himself gave up his life. The gods take the breath of such men with a kiss."
Deborah bowed herself upon the pavement.
"Aye, he was a sacrifice. Oh, my father!" Then she rose. Her eyes seemed to see the ascended spirit as she said slowly:
"Now I swear by thy white locks—by the altar of thy broken heart! I, too, will be a sacrifice!"
The Greek was paralyzed by the sense of his helplessness to say or do anything to mitigate the woman's woe. Though he knew not what it meant, he knew that there was a tragedy in her heart as real as the one that had just occurred at the Temple.