“My lady wished to gather some flowers she sought,” answered Nehushta, “as she has done without harm for many a year; and being armed, I did not fear thieves, if such men are to be found where all are poor.”

“Well, well, as it chances, no harm has happened; but do not go out unattended again, lest the soldiers should not be so courteous as their captain.  They will not trouble you by the way, since, with the exception of a single guard, they camp yonder by the streamlet.  Farewell for this night, my child; we will meet to-morrow.”

Then Miriam went to rest and dreamed of the Roman captain, and that he, she, and Nehushta made a journey together and met with many great adventures, wherein Caleb played some strange part.  In that dream the captain Marcus protected them from all these dangers, till at length they came to a calm sea, on which floated a single white ship wherein they must embark, having the sign of the Cross woven in its sails.  Then she awoke and found that it was morning.

Of all the arts she had been taught, Miriam was fondest of that of modelling in clay, for which she had a natural gift.  Indeed, so great had her skill become, that these models which she made, after they had been baked with fire, were, at her wish, sold by the Essenes to any who took a fancy to them.  As to the money which they fetched, it was paid into a fund to be distributed among the poor.

This art Miriam carried on in a reed-thatched shed in the garden, where, by an earthen pipe, water was delivered into a stone basin, which she used to damp her clay and cloths.  Sometimes also, with the help of masons and the master who had taught her, now a very old man, she copied these models in marble, which the Essenes brought to her from the ruins of a palace near Jericho.  At the time that the Romans came she was finishing a work more ambitious than any which she had undertaken as yet; namely, a life-sized bust cut from the fragment of an ancient column to the likeness of her great-uncle, Ithiel.  On the afternoon following the day that she met Marcus, clad in her white working-robe, she was occupied in polishing this bust, with the assistance of Nehushta, who handed her the cloths and grinding-powder.  Suddenly shadows fell upon her, and turning, she beheld Ithiel and the Roman.

“Daughter,” said Ithiel, smiling at her confusion, “I have brought the captain Marcus to see your work.”

“Oh, my uncle!” she replied indignantly, “am I in a state to receive any captain?” and she held out her wet hands and pointed to her garments begrimed with clay and powder.  “Look at me.”

“I look,” said Ithiel innocently, “and see naught amiss.”

“And I look, lady,” added Marcus in his merry voice, “and see much to admire.  Would that more of your sex could be found thus delightfully employed.”

“Alas, sir,” she replied, adroitly misunderstanding him, for Miriam did not lack readiness, “in this poor work there is little to admire.  I am ashamed that you should look on the rude fashionings of a half-trained girl, you who must have seen all those splendid statues of which I have been told.”