“Thou dost look so sorrowful. I never knew before how much thou dost need me. I can teach thee so much. I will show thee how to be happy.”
Adah thought it extremely doubtful, but it would have been cruel to discourage such cheerful confidence. Besides, she saw a loophole of escape from an embarrassing conversation: “Thou hast no time to give to me.”
Miriam pondered. “I will take time,” she said with decision, “just as much as I can spare from Isaac and Milcah and their mother.”
She ran to the door and looked appraisingly at the position of the sun on the courtyard foliage.
“I must go now,” she said; “it groweth late. See how the shadows lengthen?”
Adah, left alone, smiled, then she sighed. Alas, that the sorrow of the House of Naaman should be past the little maid’s generously offered assistance, past the ability of the wisest men and the greatest gods of Syria!
CHAPTER XII
UNDERSTANDING
Out on the Syrian plains three horsemen plodded steadily through the storm. At last they halted, shivering, in the shelter of a great rock. One went about the necessary preparations for a slender meal, another faced his companion contritely.
“I am so sorry, Benjamin. I—”
“We usually are, Isaac, when we see what sorrow is wrought by our wrongdoing.”