himself: "The ways of God are stranger than the thoughts of men, and it
may be that I shall find the King, at last, in the hands of His
enemies, and shall come in time to offer my pearl for His ransom before
He dies."

So the old man followed the multitude with slow and painful steps
towards the Damascus gate of the city. Just beyond the entrance of the
guard-house a troop of Macedonian soldiers came down the street,
dragging a young girl with torn dress and dishevelled hair. As the
Magian paused to look at her with compassion, she broke suddenly from
the hands of her tormentors, and threw herself at his feet, clasping
him around the knees. She had seen his white cap and the winged circle
on his breast.

"Have pity on me," she cried, "and save me, for the sake of the God of
Purity! I also am a daughter of the true religion which is taught by
the Magi. My father was a merchant of Parthia, but he is dead, and I am
seized for his debts to be sold as a slave. Save me from worse than
death."

Artaban trembled.

It was the old conflict in his soul, which had come to him in the
palm-grove of Babylon and in the cottage at Bethlehem--the conflict
between the expectation of faith and the impulse of love. Twice the
gift which he had consecrated to the worship of religion had been drawn
from his hand to the service of humanity. This was the third trial, the
ultimate probation, the final and irrevocable choice.

Was it his great opportunity, or his last temptation? He could not