This letter
Ithiel, who purposed to creep out into the city that evening disguised
as a beggar, to seek for tidings, said he would take, and, if might
be, bribe some soldier to deliver it to Benoni at the house of the high
priest, if he were there.
So Miriam wrote the letter, and at nightfall Ithiel and another brother
departed, taking it with them.
On the following morning they returned, safe, but with a dreadful tale
of the slaughters in the city and in the Temple courts, where the mad
factions still fought furiously.
"Your tidings, my uncle?" said Miriam, rising to meet him. "Does he
still live?"
"Be of good comfort," he answered. "Benoni reached the house of Mathias
in safety, and Caleb also, and now they are sheltering within the Temple
walls. This much I had from one of the high priest's guards, who, for
the price of a piece of gold I gave him, swore that he would deliver the
letter without fail. But, child, I will take no more, for that soldier
eyed me curiously and said it was scarcely safe for beggars to carry
gold."
Miriam thanked him for his goodness and his news, saying that they
lifted a weight from her heart.
"I have other tidings that may perhaps make it lighter still," went on
the old man, looking at her sideways.
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