kill him, and from what I heard of him afterward, I am sure that if he had
ever got those long arms around me I should have been a mass of broken
bones.

"So, taking everything into consideration, I gave up my plan to marry
this girl of Timnath; and I was afterward very glad I did so, for she
proved a tricky creature, and entered into a conspiracy to deceive her
husband, actually weeping before him seven days in order to worm out of
him the secret of his strength."

"I suppose thee never met Delilah?" asked Mrs. Crowder.

"Oh, no," he answered; "before Samson was married I left that part of the
world, and I did not make the acquaintance of the attractive young person
who was so successful in the grand competition of discovering the source
of Samson's strength. In fact, it was nearly a hundred years after that
before I heard of those great exploits of Samson which have given him
such widespread fame."

"I am glad thee never met Delilah," said Mrs. Crowder, reflectively;
"for thee, too, was possessed of a great secret, and she might have gained
it from thee."




IV


"I think thee was in great danger," continued Mrs. Crowder, "in that