Just as the shadows were closing down around the hill, an interesting little group found its way up the winding path through the orchards, touched as they were by the sunset coloring, and into the gate of the city.  The man, seemingly about fifty years of age, walked with slow and measured tread.  He had a black beard, lightly sprinkled with gray, and he carried in his hand a staff, which served him in walking and also in persuading the donkey he was leading to move a little more rapidly.

It was plain to see that the errand he had come on was an important one, both from the care with which he was dressed and from the anxious look which now and then spread over his face.

Upon the donkey’s back sat a woman, and your attention would have been directed to her at once if you could have been there.  She was marvelously beautiful.  She was very young—­just at that interesting period between girlhood and womanhood, when the charm is so great.

Her eyes were large and blue and they were a prominent feature in the face that was absolutely perfect in contour and coloring.

She wore an outer robe of a dull woolen stuff which covered the blue garment worn underneath—­the garment which indicated that she was a virgin.  Over her head and around her neck she wore the customary white veil or “wimple.”

As the donkey jogged along, stopping now and then to nibble at the bushes on either side, she sat calmly looking out upon the surroundings.  Once in a while she would draw aside her veil and her beautiful eyes would lift themselves to heaven with a look of rapture and adoration in them, which was wonderful to see.

As they drew nearer to the town the look of anxiety upon the face of the man deepened, for he began to realize more and more the crowded condition of the place they were approaching.  The hurry and bustle and confusion made themselves felt far beyond the bounds of the town itself.

They seemed to be strangers—­at least they did not have relatives or friends to whom they could turn; and the man started at once to make his way to the inn or “kahn,” as it was called in those days.

This inn was a quadrangular building made of rough stones.  It was one story high, with a flat roof, and it had not a single window.  All around it was a high wall, built of rocks; and the space between that wall and the building made a safe enclosure for the animals.

The thing about these inns that would surprise you or me today was the way in which the business connected with them was run.  There was no charge made for staying there, but safe lodging was freely given.  Each company which came brought its own bedding, its own food and everything they needed to use in cooking.  A resting place and safe protection were all that were offered.  The inn was in charge of one caretaker.  There were no other servants.

As the traveler, whose name was Joseph, drew near he found to his dismay that he could not even make his way through the crowd to the gate keeper, who was guarding the one entrance to the inn.