downhearted, my little maid. Thy father will buy for thee an amulet that
will open those brown eyes of thine wider than ever before."

So Naomi wore about her neck for weeks a small three-cornered bag, in
which was sewn a scrap of parchment taken from a religious book, written
after certain rules and with a diagram so mysterious that not even
Samuel could understand it.

And how were the contents of this little three-cornered bag to restore
Naomi's eyesight? Why, by charming away the wicked spirit who had cast
an evil eye upon her. Or perhaps Naomi had chanced to rub her eyes upon
waking before she had washed her hands. Being unclean, the devil present
had slipped from her fingers into her eyes, and now must be charmed out
again by the holy words about her neck.

Not a thought that Naomi, daily handling sick little Three Legs, might
have caught the malady that first darkened the vision of the poor little
animal, and then caused the frail life to flicker out altogether.

Naomi missed her pet sorely, but its death was only one more grief added
to the burden that overshadowed all her days.

She could no longer play in the garden. Her well, begun so happily, was
neglected, though not forgotten, and little Jonas was the leader now,
guiding her faltering steps with such good-will that Naomi forgave him
when he led her straight into the orange-tree or neglected to warn her
that the myrtle bush was in her path.

Her friends Rachel and Rebekah had deserted her, for at the first
mention of the evil eye they had looked askance, and now they never came
to play nor to entertain her with their talk.

Little lame Enoch proved a faithful friend, and Naomi felt comfortable
with him as a playmate, for he, too, suffered from a handicap and yet
was cheerful and gay notwithstanding. He knew a host of stories told him
by his old grandmother, and the long hours slipped away quickly while
their little tongues chattered, though their hands and feet were
pathetically still.

But of all the comfort Naomi knew, apart from the love of her father and
mother, the companionship of Ezra was the greatest. He amused her, he
waited upon her, he revived her drooping spirits with his own high hopes
and plans for her.

"Thou shalt see again, Naomi," he would declare confidently. "All the
cures have not been tried yet. Thou art _not_ like the beggars by the
roadside. Say not that again, or I will dip thee some day in the well
behind the myrtle bus