The following day Javan was absent from home until late in the afternoon, when he came to inform his father that Mary, the daughter of Eleazar, the wealthy lady of Bethezob, had arrived in Jerusalem, having at length followed his counsel, and sought safety for herself and her numerous suite of attendants in the Holy City. She wished to procure a large and handsome dwelling for herself; but Javan told his father that he had assured her she would receive a welcome to his house, until a suitable habitation could be found for her. Zadok readily confirmed his son's offer, and hastened with him to meet his wife's relative, and conduct her from the inn at which she had stopped to his own spacious house. Both Zadok and his wife had a great regard for Mary, though the expensive and luxurious mode in which she always lived was entirely at variance with the simplicity of their own manners. It is true that the dwelling of the priest was large and well-furnished, and everything in it wore an air of comfort and elegance; but personal luxury and expensive indulgences he entirely despised. His whole equipage, his domestics and attendants, and the attire of his family, were in proper accordance to his rank and station and the customs of his country; but in these things he took no delight, and his children had been brought up to regard them with perfect indifference. Not so Mary of Bethezob. Her mother had died while she was very young, and had left her to the care of a falsely-indulgent father, who allowed her every luxury that his vast wealth could command, and encouraged her to gratify every selfish inclination that arose in her breast. She was very lovely, and her manners were sweet and engaging; but her passions were strong and unrestrained by paternal discipline. Early in life she married a man of piety and good sense, who would probably have greatly improved her character had he lived. But he had died a year before the time when Javan visited her in Persea, and she was left a young and beautiful widow of independence and power, with one lovely little child scarcely two years old.