to her shoulder--and as the woman sometimes takes the initiative in an
affair of this kind--smiled upon the willing and ready-looking fellow;
not exactly at him, but as it were in his direction, you know; and he
caught the faint glint of sunshine on her lips, and then--but in the
witching hour when the twilight and sunlight kiss and part, after the
smile and look of recognition everyone knows what happens.

And he ran to her and said with the pleasing courtesy of a man of the
world:

"Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher."

Then with the tact of a finished coquette, in three little words she
conveyed to him the flattering knowledge that she recognized in him an
embassador of power, wealth and luxury, by saying:

"Drink, my Lord."

After that they became acquainted in the most easy, off-hand manner,
without an introduction, and yet we are told to follow the example of
these pioneers of the race who were always "fair to look upon."

I never in my life heard priest or people condemning her for forming
the acquaintance of a stranger without an introduction; she was called
one of the "mothers in Israel," and even St. Paul, who was a regular
crank about the girls, classed her with the "holy women of old," which
proves he didn't know anything about her history or was playing upon
the ignorance of his hearers. She was a leader of the _ton_ in Israel,
and if in those days they did not banish her from good society, why
should we censure the same conduct when we are so much more
civilized, enlightened and liberal in our views?

And in an incredibly short space of time he adorned her with earrings
and bracelets, and she invited him home with her, and he actually went
and made it all right with her mother and big brother by making a
prepossessing exhibition of piety, for you remember how he told them
"he bowed down his head and worshipped the Lord."

He told them of Isaac, in whose name he sued for Rebekah's fair hand.
He didn't say that Isaac was handsome, virtuous, talented or
ambitious, but he said, "the Lord hath blessed my master and he is
very great; and he hath given him flocks and herds, and silver and
gold, and maid servants and men servants, and camels and asses," and
unto his son Isaac "hath he given all that he hath," for this astute
man of the world seemed to know that the surest and quickest way to
win a woman was to show her a golden pathway strewn with the gems of
power, luxury and ambi