"Come," said Nathan, "to my wife and children, that we may all return
thanks together. Verily 'Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but
the Lord delivereth him out of them all.' 'Blessed be God, which hath
not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.' 'I had fainted unless
I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living.' 'My flesh faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my
portion forever.'"

So, uttering exclamations from the pages of Scripture, did the devout
Jew pass onward to his home, which was once more filled with "joy and
gladness, thanksgiving and the voice of melody." Before leaving, Yusuf
presented him with the ring containing the little stone, as a memento of
his deliverance.

And Abraham? He received the full weight of the scourge; and may we be
pardoned in anticipating, and say that for two days he lay nursing his
wrath and his wounds; but, on the third day after his imprisonment, his
agility suddenly returned. He managed in some inexplicable way known
only to himself to work free of his fetters, and when the keeper came
with food in the evening, blinded by the dim light of the cell, he did
not perceive the little peddler crouched in a heap in the middle of the
floor.

Scarcely was the door opened when the Jew bounced like a ball past the
keeper's feet, almost upsetting him; then, darting like an arrow between
the astonished guards without, he was off. A hue and cry was raised, but
the little peddler had disappeared as completely as if the earth had
opened up and swallowed him.