hose only book is
that of Nature and men's faces, she read the boy's heart at once and
said openly that he might come to be the first in any cause--if he did
not betray it--and that when God mixed his blood of the best, lest Caesar
should find a rival He left out the salt of honesty and filled up the
cup with the wine of passion. When these sayings were repeated to Caleb
by Miriam, who thought them to be a jest fit to tease her playmate
with, he did not fly into one of his tempers, as she had hoped, but only
screwed up his eyelids after his fashion in certain moods, and looked
black as the rain-storm above Mount Nebo.

"Did you hear, Caleb?" asked Miriam, somewhat disappointed.

"Oh, yes! Lady Miriam," for so he had been ordered to call her. "I
heard. Do you tell that old black woman that I will lead more causes
than she ever thought of, for I mean to be the first everywhere. Also
that whatever God left out of my cup, at least He mixed it with a good
memory."

When Nehushta heard this, she laughed and said that it was true enough,
only he that tried to climb several ladders at once generally fell to
the ground, and that when a head had said good-bye to its shoulders, the
best of memories got lost between the two.

Miriam liked Caleb, but she never loved him as she did the old men, her
uncles, or Nehushta, who to her was more than all. Perhaps this may have
been because he never grew angry with her whatever she might say or do,
never even spoke to her roughly, but always waited on her pleasure
and watched for her wish. Still, of all companions he was the best. If
Miriam desired to walk by the Dead Sea, he would desire the same. If
she wanted to go fishing in the Jordan, he would make ready the baits or
net, and take the fishes off the hook--a thing she hated. If she sought
a rare flower, Caleb would hunt it out for days, although she knew well
that in himself he did not care for flowers, and when he had found it,
would mark the spot and lead her there in triumph. Also there was this
about him, as she was soon quick enough to learn: he worshipped her.
Whatever else might be false, that note in his nature rang true. If one
child could love another, then Caleb loved Miriam, first with the love
of children, then as a man loves a woman. Only--and this was the sorrow
of it--Miriam never loved Caleb. Had she done so both their stories
would have been very different. To her he was a clever companion and no
more.

What made