be, for he had no relatives
in the town who could give them lodging, and he had not money enough to
pay strangers for a lodging. Also he did not like the strange ways of
the place; he yearned for his beloved Bethlehem. It wasn't very far
off now; could she manage it?

Mary signed "Yes" with her head, and gathered together all her
remaining strength. But just beyond the city walls she sank down
exhausted, and Joseph said: "We will stay here so that you may rest,
and to-morrow I can show you the Temple."

There was a man on a stony hillock nailing two beams of wood together.
Joseph understood something of that sort of work, but he was not quite
clear over this particular thing. So he asked what it might be.

"He for whose use it is, doesn't want it," replied the workman. It
then flashed into Joseph's mind that it was a gallows.

Mary grasped his arm: "Joseph, let us go on to Bethlehem." For she
began to be frightened.

They staggered along the road. A draught of the spring of the Valley
of Jehoshaphat refreshed them. Farther on in the fertile plain of
Judaea lambs and kids were feeding, and Joseph began to speak of his
childhood. His whole being was fresh and joyful. Home! And by
evening time Bethlehem, lighted by the setting sun, lay before them on
the hill-top.

They stood still for a space and looked at it. Then Joseph went into
the town to inquire about the place and the time of the enrolment, and
to seek lodging for the night. The young woman sat down before the
gate under the fan-shaped leaves of a palm-tree and looked about her.
The western land seemed very strange to her and yet sweet, for it was
her Joseph's childish home. How noisy it was in Jerusalem, and how
peaceful it was here--almost as still and solemn as a Sabbath evening
at Nazareth! Beloved Nazareth! How far away, how far away! Sometimes
the sound of a shepherd's pipe was heard from the green hills. A youth
leaned up against an olive tree and made a wreath of twigs and sang:
"Behold, thou art fair, my love. Thine eyes are as doves in thy
fragrant locks, thy lips are rosebuds, and thy two breasts are like
roes which feed among the lilies. Thou hast ravished my heart, my
sister, my spouse." Then he was silent, and the leaves rustled softly
in the evening breeze.

Mary looked out for Joseph, but he came not. And the singer continued:
"Who art thou that shinest like the day-dawn, fair as the moon, and
clear as the sun, divine