Passover is celebrated there within two weeks. But I shall not fail;
nothing will harm me."

"What talisman do you carry to protect you?" the pagan asked a little
irritably.

"No talisman, but the love of Jesus Christ, the Saviour!"

"A Christian!" Aquila exclaimed.

Even through her stupor of grief and hopelessness, Laodice heard this
exclamation. Here, then, was one of the Nazarenes, that mysterious
sect whose tenets she had never been permitted to hear; But also, she
knew that the old apostate had braved the plague and had buried her
father. She turned to look at him in time to see him extend his hands
in blessing over her.

"_The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and his comfort be with you, for
ever; amen_. Farewell."

He was gone. Momus raised her in his arms and, lifting her into her
howdah, laid her tenderly on the improvised reclining seat that had
been made of the chair therein. In a twinkling the whole party had
mounted, and passed swiftly on toward Jerusalem. As they moved
forward, the strange woman murmured softly:

"Two!"

Laodice's camel mounted the slope toward the east and stretched away
on a comparative level toward an immense white moon. Aquila's horse