Page:Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ.djvu/52

Rh &quot;Well, they are dead now,&quot; the Nazarene proceeded. &quot;They died in Nazareth. Joachim was not rich, yet he left a house and garden to be divided between his daughters Marian and Mary. This is one of them; and to save her portion of the property, the law required her to marry her next of kin. She is now my wife.&quot;

&quot;And you were—&quot;

&quot;Her uncle.&quot;

&quot;Yes, yes! And as you were both born in Bethlehem, the Roman compels you to take her there with you to be also counted.&quot;

The Rabbi clasped his hands, and looked indignantly to heaven, exclaiming, &quot;The God of Israel still lives! The vengeance is his!&quot;

With that he turned and abruptly departed. A stranger near by, observing Joseph's amazement, said, quietly, &quot;Rabbi Samuel is a zealot. Judas himself is not more fierce.&quot;

Joseph, not wishing to talk with the man, appeared not to hear, and busied himself gathering in a little heap the grass which the donkey had tossed abroad; after which he leaned upon his staff again, and waited.

In another hour the party passed out the gate, and, turning to the left, took the road to Bethlehem. The descent into the valley of Hinnom was quite broken, garnished here and there with straggling wild olive-trees. Carefully, tenderly, the Nazarene walked by the woman's side, leading-strap in hand. On their left, reaching to the south and east round Mount Zion, rose the city wall, and on their right the steep prominences which form the western boundary of the valley.

Slowly they passed the Lower Pool of Gihon, out of which the sun was fast driving the lessening shadow of the royal hill; slowly they proceeded, keeping parallel with the aqueduct from the Pools of Solomon, until near the site of the country-house on what is now called the Hill of Evil Counsel; there they began to ascend to the plain of Rephaim. The sun streamed garishly over the stony face of the famous locality, and under its influence Mary, the daughter of Joachim, dropped the wimple entirely, and bared her head. Joseph told the story of the Philistines surprised in their