me upon them
suddenly. I think you had better go up alone, and see Isaac, and
bring him to me; then we can talk over the best way of breaking it
to the others."

It was nearly an hour before Jonas brought Isaac down to the spot
where John was standing, a hundred yards away from the house; for
he had to wait some time before he could find an opportunity of
speaking to him. Jonas had but just broken the news, that John was
at hand, when they reached the spot where he was standing.

"Is it indeed you, my dear young master?" the old man said, falling
on John's neck. "This is unlooked-for joy, indeed. The Lord be
praised for his mercies! What will your parents say, they who have
wept for you for months, as dead?"

"They are well, I hope, Isaac?"

"They are shaken, greatly shaken," old Isaac said. "The tempest has
passed over them; the destruction of Jerusalem, the woes of our
people, and your loss have smitten them to the ground but, now that
you have returned, it will give them new life."

"And Mary, she is well, I hope, too?" John asked.

"The maiden is not ill, though I cannot say that she is well,"
Isaac said. "Long after your father and mother, and all of us, had
given up hope, she refused to believe that you were dead; even when
the others put on mourning, she would not do so--but of late I know
that, though she has never said so, hope has died in her, too. Her
cheeks have grown pale, and her eyes heavy; but she still keeps up,
for the sake of your parents; and we often look, and wonder how she
can bear herself so bravely."

"And how are we to break it to the old people?" John asked.

Isaac shook his head. The matter was beyond him.

"I should think," Jonas suggested, "that Isaac should go back, and
break it to them, first, that I have returned; that I have been a
slave among the Romans, and have escaped from them. He might say
that he has questioned me, and that I said that you certainly did
not fall at the siege of Jerusalem; and that I believe that you,
like me, were sold as a slave by the Romans.

"Then you can take me in, and let them question me. I will stick to
that story, for a time, raising some hopes in their breasts; till
at last I can signify to Mary that you are alive, and leave it to
her to break it to the others."

"That will be the best way, by far," John said. "Yes, that will do
excellently well.

"Now, Isaac, do you go on, and do your part. Tell them gently that
Jonas has returned, th