iples of honor, and he had not reached the wisdom of that great
educator, Comenius, who, not long ere his death, wrote a treatise upon
"the art of wisely withdrawing one's own assertions." So he fought
doggedly on, until circumstances again threw him into the bosom of his
friends.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE FAMILY OF ASRU.

"God's in his heaven, all's right with the world."

On the evening upon which the Battle of the Ditch was fought, the wife
of Asru, and his daughter, Sherah, now almost grown to womanhood, were
returning from performing Tawaf at the temple. They had prayed for the
success of the Koreish expedition; they had drank of the well of Ismael,
Zem-Zem, and had poured its water on their heads. Now they were
hastening home to offer prayers to their household gods in the same
cause, for, during Asru's apostasy to the Moslem ranks, his wife, a
woman of the Koreish, and her family had never swerved from their
hostility to Mohammed and all connected with him. For their obstinacy in
this, they had been cruelly abused by Asru, who, with the superiority
which most men in the East assume over women, ruled as a tyrant in his
house.

It was with unspeakable satisfaction that Sherah and her mother found
that Asru had at last broken all connection with the prophet, but a
change had come into his manner which was to them most unaccountable.
Instead of cruelty now was kindness; instead of stormy petulance, now
was patience; and yet, Asru had not mentioned the cause of his new life.
A sort of backwardness on the subject, a desire to know more of it
before communicating with others, strove with him against the dictates
of his conscience, and he had as yet been dumb. He had not concealed his
connection with the little band of Jewish Christians. In spite of the
jeers of his friends among the Koreish, he had attended their meetings
regularly. That had been the extent of his active Christian work; yet
his life had been preaching while his lips were still.

Sherah and her mother talked of him as they walked.

"Mother, however it be, father was never kind until he went to the
Jewish meetings."

"True. Yet many of these same Jews are wicked, thieves, low robbers, not
fit for such as Asru to mingle with," said the mother haughtily.

"Yet not the Jews who attend the church," returned the girl, quickly. "I
know them. Most of them are poor, but not thieves; they seem quiet,
industrious people. Then, Amzi attends there now