some might think it so. Drink!" and she held the water to her lips.

Rachel obeyed her eagerly. "Oh! it is good," she said. "But how came we
here out of that rushing crowd?"

Before she answered, muttering "After the mistress, the maid," Nehushta
swallowed a deep draught of water in her turn, which, indeed, she needed
sorely. Then she told her all.

"Oh! Nou," said Rachel, "how strong and brave you are! But for you I
should be dead."

"But for God, you mean, mistress, for I hold that He sent that
knife-point home."

"Did you kill the man?" asked Rachel.

"I think that he died by a dagger-thrust as Anna foretold," she answered
evasively; "and that reminds me that I had better clean the knife, since
blood on the blade is evidence against its owner." Then drawing the
dagger from its hiding-place she rubbed it with dust, which she took
from a loop-hole, and polished it bright with a piece of hide.

Scarcely was this task accomplished to Nehushta's satisfaction when her
quick ears caught a sound.

"For your life, be silent," she whispered, and laid her face sideways
to a crack in the cement floor and listened. Well might she listen, for
below were three soldiers searching for her and her mistress.