heard Zarah sigh, never surprised her in
tears. No duty was neglected, no work left undone; nay, Zarah spun
more busily than ever, for the support of the stranger was a drain on
the scanty resources of Hadassah, and to work for him and pray for him
was the sole indulgence which Zarah could allow herself without
self-reproach. She tried--how arduous was the effort!--even to turn
her thoughts from the subject which was to her as the forbidden fruit
was to Eve. The chasm which divided Abraham's daughter from the
heathen was one over which, as Zarah knew, it would be sinful to throw
even the rainbow bridge of imagination. She must force her mind from
approaching the dangerous brink. How many of the Psalms of David,
always those most mournful in their tone, Zarah repeated to herself, to
bring solace to her spirit by day, or sleep to her eyelids by night.
While Judas Maccabeus was maintaining a gallant struggle against the
enemies of his country, conquering, but through much stern endurance,
Zarah, with the same faith and obedience as animated the warrior, was
keeping up a more painful fight against the heathen in her own gentle
heart.

There was one subject of thought, and that a distressing one, to which
Zarah's mind most readily reverted when she would turn it from the
channel into which it was ever naturally flowing. This was the mystery
connected with the fate of Abner her father. The few words which had
escaped Hadassah in an unguarded moment, were as the dull red light
which a torch might throw on the sides of some yawning pit, whose
depths are left in profound darkness. Often had Zarah yearned to know
more of her father, how he had died, for she had once deemed him dead,
where his dear remains had been laid,--all that concerned him was of
deep interest to his only child. But any attempt to break through the
reserve which sealed the lips of Hadassah had evidently occasioned such
acute distress that Zarah had long since given up the hope of gaining
information from her. Anna had entered the service of Hadassah, since
the Hebrew lady had quitted Bethsura; the attendant knew nothing, and
therefore could tell nothing, of what had previously occurred in the
family. Solomona, when she had paid occasional visits to her
kinswomen, had never given Zarah an opportunity of speaking on so
delicate a subject. Once when Zarah had ventured to ask the question,
"Did you know my father?" Solomona had appeared not to hear it