n his head.

"'And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching:
for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into
the city, and told it, all the city cried out.

"'And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth
the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli.

"'Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that
he could not see.'"

The cripple could read no more; he looked at the old man, his heart
sickened, and his eyes filled with tears.

"Why do you not continue?" asked the old man.

"It is dark; I cannot see the words."

"That is false; I feel the last rays of the sun on my face; why do you
not read on?"

The cripple wiped the tears from his eyes, and again began to read:--

"'And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I
fled to-day out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son?

"'And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the
Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the
people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the
ark of God is taken.'"

But here he could no longer contain himself, and, sobbing bitterly, he
leant his head on the old man's knee, and hid his face in his hands.

The latter did not insist on his reading any more; but repeated, in a
low voice, the well-known verse:

"'And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he
fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck
brake, and he died.'"

* * * * *

Beneath an acacia tree, at a little distance from the rest, stood two
females.

The eldest might have been six-and-thirty; her features, though stern
and severe, were still beautiful, and her dark lustrous eyes glowed
with the fire of enthusiasm. She was very pale, and the lightning
which glimmered around her gave a still more livid hue to her
features.

Judith--for so she was called--was a true type of the Szekely women;
one of those unfading forms who retain to an advanced age the keen
expression of countenance, the brilliancy of the large dark eye, the
thrilling and musical tones, and slender but vigorous form; while the
mind, instead of decaying, grows stronger with years.

Round her majestic figure, a slight girl of sixteen twined her arms,
clinging to her like the gentle convolvulus to the stately pine.

Aranka was a lov