"True, not for thee, but for Ben Aaron's hospitality. My love to the noble Yusef! and my thanks for this new mark of his goodness in giving me my kinswoman." The two men salaamed to the ground. Nadan lifted the hand of Deborah to his lips. He looked into her face as if he would have its fair features stamped upon his soul, as a seal makes its impression on wax. Her returning glance, and the warmth of her gratitude, though expressed in briefest sentence, "I thank you, good Nadan," sent him away with something else than a warrior's pride in his heart. XXXIII WITH BEN AARON As the form of Nadan was lost behind the battlement of rocks, Ben Aaron turned to Deborah. "My child, why this coarse and torn garb? I did not ask in the presence of the Arab, lest the story might shame the good name of the house of Elkiah. But come within, and tell me in the confidence of our kinship; and as the Lord liveth, if man hath harmed thee, I will plant my spear before his tent ere the sun set again, though he were Sheikh Yusef himself. But you are faint, my daughter. You must rest; and, when refreshed with the warm goat's milk and the meat, I must have the tale of the happenings, even as if my ears were those of Elkiah himself--the Lord rest his spirit!" "Adah! Zillah!" He clapped his hands, and serving-women came from the low doorway of what was called the Castle of Masada, but seemed to Deborah more like a covert for cattle, so rude was the structure. "Adah will bring water; and Zillah fetch you the garments of wool; aye, and the leben will bring warmth to your cheek." Deborah evinced a moment's indecision. Her wearied flesh clamored for the offered cheer, yet her strong purpose prevailed. "My thanks, Ben Aaron, but I have come upon a mission that may not be delayed even by your hospitality. As the good servant of our father Abraham at the house of Laban, so I must say to you, my father's kinsman, 'I will not eat until I have told mine errand.' And this raiment and these bleeding feet are fitting to my story. If I find not favor for my cause, then let me depart. You know that my father's house has sided with the Greeks." "And well; for why should they perish?" interrupted her host. "Say not so. The Greeks have turned to be enemies of our people. I myself was a prisoner in my father's house, doomed to death. I fled to the wilderness, to the Arabs, until these, our ancient enemies, less cruel than the Greeks, have brought me here to you. There is no hope for our people in this alliance with those who destroy our altars. God has brought to confusion and shame and destruction those of us who have consented to worship their false gods. He saves only His true people. Our hope is in the sons of Mattathias." Ben Aaron raised his hand in protest.