Naomi sincerely rejoiced in her friend's happiness; but the idea that the time was drawing near when Amaziah and Judith were to depart from Jerusalem, and that then Claudia also would be removed far away from her, and she should be left without one Christian friend in whom she could confide, filled her with sorrow. While Mary of Bethany lived, she knew that she should not want either sympathy or counsel; but she saw that the aged saint was sinking gradually into the grave, and her own prospects were cheerless and gloomy as regarded the present world. Nevertheless all the persuasions and arguments of Claudia and her relatives were quite unavailing to induce her to accompany them in their exile. Her parents would have consented to her doing so, for Zadok saw how hopeless it was that she would ever return to the faith of her fathers; and he would not have opposed any plan by which the dishonour of her apostasy might have been kept from the knowledge of the world. To Salome the loss of her daughter's society would have been irreparable and severe; and yet she almost entreated her to go. She believed that Naomi would thus be removed from many griefs and much anxiety; and she also dreaded the evil days that her heart foreboded were coming on Zion, and desired to know that her beloved child was placed beyond the reach of Judea's chastisement. Not even her mother's wishes could in this instance shake the resolution of Naomi: she could not believe that it was her duty to forsake her father and mother, so long as she was not absolutely prevented from exercising her own religion, and compelled to conform to anything which her conscience condemned. This was not the case, for Zadok was too wise to resort to such measures; and in the privacy of her own chamber she was permitted to pass her time according to the dictates of her own unalterable faith, and the customs which she had learned from her Christian brethren at Pella. No prospects of personal security and happiness could tempt her to leave her parents, more especially in a time of danger and anxiety; and her firmness on this point moved the heart of Zadok towards his daughter, and made him in some measure relax from the sternness of manner which he had assumed towards her ever since her return from Pella.