Naomi opened her eyes. She gave one look at her despoiled flower-bed and
bent again over the lamb.

"I am glad, Three Legs," said she warmly. "Thou art much better than
many poppies, thou poor little creature, and I am glad I did it. I am
glad!"

CHAPTER II

ONE SABBATH

It was Sabbath morning, and Naomi and her mother and Ezra were on their
way to the synagogue.

They chose back streets as they went, and they met only women and
children on their way, for the front roads on the Sabbath day were given
up to the men.

Naomi was happy as she walked quietly along holding fast to her mother's
hand, for she wore her new hyacinth-blue robe that her mother had spun
and her father had woven for her.

Ezra had other thoughts, and presently he whispered in Naomi's ear:

"In two years' time I shall be a Son of the Law, and then I shall sit on
the men's side in the synagogue, and walk on the front streets on
Sabbath. Thou and Mother will have to come alone."

Naomi shook her head.

"Jonas will walk with us then," she whispered back. "Boaster!"

She did not really blame Ezra for his lordly words and air, for she knew
how every Jewish boy looked forward to what was called his Day of
Freedom, when by a priest in the synagogue he was made a Son of the Law.
Then he would be no longer a child, but a young man. His school days
would be over. He would choose a trade and begin to earn his own living.

But it was a comfort to Naomi to think that, with Ezra gone, little
Jonas would trot along by her side, and she was thinking of baby Jonas,
left every Sabbath morning in the care of lame Enoch's old grandmother,
now grown too feeble to climb the hill to the synagogue, when Aunt
Miriam overtook them.

Aunt Miriam's husband, Simon, was a wealthy man in the village of
Bethlehem. He was the owner of the guest-house or khan that stood a
little below the town on the way leading down into Egypt, and which was
believed to have been the dwelling of Boaz and Ruth, and the birth-place
of King David himself.

To-day Aunt Miriam wore a robe of fine linen, covered with a wide cloak
of black and white stripes, and her earrings and bracelets tinkled at
every step. On week-days the children knew her to be bustling and chatty
and fond of a jest. But the Sabbath saw her a different woman. Stately
and dignified she walked beside them now, her brown eyes gazing far away
and full of holy thought.

The children felt awed and shy with her