"
"That I believe also," said Miriam; "and if it be so, grandsire, I will
repay love for love." Then she turned to the Essenes and thanked them in
broken words.
"Be not downhearted," said Ithiel in a thick voice, "for I hope that
even in this life we shall meet again."
"May it be so," answered Miriam, and they parted, the Essenes returning
sadly to their home, and Benoni taking the road through Jericho to
Jerusalem.
Travelling slowly, at the evening of the second day they set their camp
on open ground not far from the Damascus gate of the Holy City, but
within the new north wall that had been built by Agrippa. Into the city
itself Benoni would not enter, fearing lest the Roman soldiers should
plunder them. At moonrise Nehushta took Miriam by the hand and led her
through the resting camels to a spot a few yards from the camp.
There, standing with her back to the second wall, she pointed out to her
a cliff, steep but of no great height, in which appeared little caves
and ridges of rock that, looked at from this distance, gave to its face
a rude resemblance to a human skull.
"See," she said solemnly. "Yonder the Lord was crucified."
Miriam heard and sank to her knees in prayer. As she knelt there the
grave voice of her grandfather spoke behind her, bidding her rise.
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