Claudia flew to Zadok with her father's letter, and rested not until she had obtained his promise to comply with all his arrangements. She then repaired to Salome's apartment, and joyfully communicated all the welcome intelligence to Naomi and her mother, and received their affectionate congratulations on the happy termination which was thus put to all her anxieties as to the nature of Rufus's reply to Amaziah's letter. Shall we say that Naomi's heart beat violently, and her colour came and went with rapid changes when she heard that she was to meet Marcellus at Joppa? Various feelings added to her emotion. It was now several years since she had seen the Roman youth, and he might be changed from what she remembered him. The kindness and the amiable disposition that had won her young heart might have worn away amid the rough scenes of a military life; or, if he still remained the same engaging and noble-spirited creature that once she loved, (and this his letters to Claudia led her to believe,) yet his affection for her might have died away, and then he would meet her only as his sister's friend. She tried to believe that she could bear this change with great heroism; and at all events she thought that it was better she should see him and know the real state of his feelings at once, and then school her own heart to a corresponding degree of indifference. His merely Jewish faith--as she considered it to be--was a source of anxiety to her; for while she rejoiced that he was no longer an idolater, she knew that under any circumstances it was her duty to check every hope of being united to him while he acknowledged not the truth of the creed which she had adopted. And how could she expect that time or opportunity would be afforded her to tell him all the wondrous stories which had so powerfully affected her own opinions, or that power should be given her so to set forth the Christian doctrines as to touch his heart and convince his reason? She could not communicate all these doubts and fears to Claudia had she even felt so inclined, for the prohibition to their having any private intercourse was not retracted; but they occupied her own thoughts while she made her preparations for the intended journey.