Clearly the answer came back: “Nay, we have none but our own.”
Sighing, the shepherd went on, the soldier abreast of him.
“I have come to redeem my pledge, Benjamin.”
The other’s face was sadly accusing. “Here, on these lonely hills, with only the fast-falling night for a witness, and not before the eyes of men?”
The soldier’s face flushed. “If thou meanest our last meeting on the way hither, I had thought thou wouldst understand. It was through no information furnished by me that thou wert taken, nor was it by my band. Naaman is Captain of the Host. I have but a few men under me and my authority is small. I could not help thee then. Besides, thou wert in no personal danger, else I would have risked it. It was thy flock of which Eleazer’s company was so proud. They took thee because the sheep knew thy voice but a stranger would they not follow, fleeing from any but thee.”
A contemptuous smile played around Benjamin’s mouth. He unclasped from his wrist a broad gold bracelet and handed it to Isaac.
“I thought thou wouldst be apt to consider this too costly a token,” he said.
A pained look crossed Isaac’s face. “I redeem it with what hath cost me more: the delight of a woman’s presence and a woman’s sweetness and a woman’s wonderful devotion which otherwise might have been mine. I have come to invite thee to a wedding—thine own wedding—with Rachel of Hannathon in the Land of Israel.”
The shepherd was plainly startled. “Thou hast come to ask me to marry my betrothed? I do not understand.”
“She was captured about the time thou wert by one of the men in my company,” the soldier explained. “I am glad to say I was able to save her from familiarity at the hands of the soldiers—”