“What is the good of admiration?” asked Jonah sadly. “I have a living to make.” “Ah,” said Amaziah, and his face clouded, “so that is it. What a nuisance.” And he sat looking before him with a frown. “You do not really wish to be a priest,” he said at last; “for one thing the duties would soon prove irksome to one of your temperament.” Jonah threw out his hands. “What is there for me to do?” he cried. “Shall I keep cattle, like my brother Aaron? Or am I to beg, with a bowl?” “There are worse things than begging,” said Amaziah. “In the desert every one is a beggar.” “I am tired of the desert,” said Jonah; “I am not going to live there any longer.” But Amaziah held up his hand reprovingly. “My son,” he said gravely, “one does not change the course of one’s life with impunity, or for no reason.” “There is a reason,” said Jonah. He looked down at his feet; then he looked boldly up again. “I wish to marry,” he said. The High Priest made a gesture of discouragement. “I might have guessed,” he murmured. And he gazed sadly at the prophet, on whom he had been counting to help further his own plans. Presently he said with a sigh, “I can see that this maiden’s father does not wish to give her away for nothing.” “He is wealthy,” said Jonah gloomily. “For that reason he cannot abide a poor man for a son-in-law.” Amaziah nodded his head. “Naturally,” he agreed; “if he is wealthy, he feels obliged to add to his fortune. It is only those without anything who can give away what they have, without suffering an overbearing sense of loss. For one thing they do not lose as much, and for another, having nothing, they are not required to succeed in the world, and so they can afford to be generous.” As Jonah did not reply to this observation, he continued in a grave voice: “Are you really determined upon this thing, my son? Think well. Marriage in your case may well be a calamity. You have a name already famous in Israel. You are at the outset of a career like that of Samuel. It is safe to predict that you will go far. And you wish to give this up in order to be married? Such a thing is incredible. Farewell to glory, Jonah.” Jonah folded his arms, and regarded the High Priest with a gloomy and obstinate look. “Nevertheless,” he said firmly, “that is my decision.” “It is not even your loss,” continued Amaziah earnestly, “wholly; it is Israel’s. It is you who shine like a lamp in her darkness; yours is the voice of hope in her night. If you were Amos, or Hosea, I should say that Israel could get along without you. But you are different; you are the messenger of God’s geniality. Israel cannot afford to lose you, Jonah, my son.” However, Jonah was proof against arguments of this kind. Seeing which, Amaziah exclaimed, “What will God think of His prophet, who no longer listens to His voice?” Jonah replied with an effort: “Is God only audible in the desert? And must He be silent in the Temple? I tell you, He will speak to me wherever I am.”