to possess in a far higher degree than age.

During the arrival and departure of the messengers she did not quit the
old couple's side, leaving to her sister-in-law Elisheba and her servants
the duty of offering refreshments to the wearied men. She herself
listened intently, with panting breath, but what she heard seemed to
awaken her anxiety; for she knew that no one came to the house which
sheltered Aaron save those who were adherents of her brothers, the
leaders of the people. If such men's blitheness was already waning,
what must the outlook be to the lukewarm and refractory!

She rarely added a question of her own to those asked by the old man and,
when she did so, the messengers who heard her voice for the first time
looked at her in surprise; though musical, the tones were unusually deep.

After several messengers, in reply to her inquiries, declared that Hosea,
the son of Nun, had not come with the others, her head drooped and she
asked nothing more, till pallid Milcah, who followed her everywhere,
raised her dark eyes beseechingly and murmured the name of Reuben, her
captive husband. The prophetess kissed the poor desolate wife's
forehead, glanced at her as if she had neglected her in some way, and
then questioned the messengers with urgent eagerness concerning their
news of Reuben, who had been dragged to the mines. One only had learned
from a released prisoner that Milcah's husband was living in the copper
mines of the province of Bech, in the neighborhood of Mt. Sinai, and
Miriam seized upon these tidings to assure Milcah, with great vivacity
and warmth, that if the tribes moved eastward they would surely pass the
mines and release the Hebrews imprisoned there.

These were welcome words, and Milcah, who nestled to her comforter's