"Now, if I might dye my hair or stain my face--" Rachel began after a
pause.

"Thou foolish child! It would not wear, nor hide thy charm at all!"

"But I dread the quarries for thee, Deborah. If only we might be
hidden here, somewhere."

"Come, dost thou want to marry Atsu?" the old woman demanded harshly.

The girl turned toward her, her face flushed with resentment.

"Nay! And that thou knowest. For this very mingling with Egypt is
Israel cursed. The idolatrous have reached out their hands in marriage
and wedded the Hebrews away from the God of Abraham. When did an
Egyptian desert his gods for the faith of the Hebrew he took in
marriage? Not at any time. Therefore have we fed the shrines of the
idols and increased the numbers of the idolaters and behold, the hosts
of Jehovah have dwindled to naught. Therefore is He wroth with us, and
justly. For are there not pitiful shrines to Ra, Ptah and Amen within
the boundaries of Goshen? Nay, I wed not with an idolater," she
concluded firmly.

Deborah's wrinkled face lighted and she put a tender arm about the girl.

"Of a truth, then, it is for me that thou wouldst avoid the quarries,"
she said. "I did but try thee, Rachel."

Rachel looked at her reproachfully, but the old woman smiled and drew
her out into the open.