Zadok spoke with all the passionate vehemence so characteristic of his Hebrew blood. His hands were clasped energetically, his eyes flashed fire, and his whole form seemed animated with powerful emotion. Salome gazed alternately on him and on her stricken child, whose head was bowed to the ground in humiliation and sorrow, while her long black hair fell in profusion over her neck and face, and concealed the tears which she strove ineffectually to repress. Her mother could not feel the indignation that filled the breast of Zadok; she could not forget that Naomi, however erring, was still her only, her most beloved daughter, and she stooped to raise her from the floor, and to whisper words of comfort. But Naomi refused to rise. "Oh, my mother," she murmured, "has not my father cursed me? Let me lie in dust and ashes, until once more I hear his voice recall those dreadful words, and bless his child." [Illustration: SALOME INTERCEDING FOR NAOMI.] "He cursed thee not, my Naomi; he only spoke in sorrow and in anger of the sad change that has been wrought in you. But tell him that you will listen again to his instructions--tell him that you will strive to shake off and forget the errors into which you have so unhappily been led, and he will bless you again, and joy will yet return to our house. I will kneel with you, my child. Zadok never yet denied me what I asked. I will plead for you, and promise for you that you will return to the holy religion of your ancestors." Salome's tears fell fast as she uttered these words, and she knelt by her daughter's side before the dignified form of her husband. He could not see her thus abase herself before him unmoved, nor behold the tears that flowed down her gentle countenance without emotion. He approached, and raised her from the ground, while he replied in a softened tone, "For thy dear sake, Salome, I will pardon the child for whom you plead so well. But I only restore her to my favour, and acknowledge her as my daughter, on the terms which you yourself have named. She shall promise no more to use the name of the God of the Nazarenes, and she shall attend to all the forms and customs of our religion, and again receive instruction from our most holy rabbis and from myself, on the points concerning which her faith has been shaken. Naomi, promise me this, and then come back to my arms and my heart, as my own lovely and beloved child."