A day had been fixed for the departure of Amaziah and his companions; and as it approached, Claudia became nervously impatient for the time to arrive when they should be safe beyond the walls of Jerusalem. Her dread of Javan increased daily; and though he endeavoured in his intercourse with Amaziah's family to appear friendly and at his ease, and to dispel the fears that his unguarded threats had excited, yet her watchful anxiety detected that his manner was unnatural, and his kindness and cheerfulness were entirely forced. She felt a dreadful foreboding of evil which she could not conquer, and all the efforts of Theophilus to dispel her fears, and his repeated assurances that he entertained no suspicions or apprehensions of his cousin, failed to restore her peace and confidence. She had no longer the sanguine and hopeful spirit of Naomi to cheer her as formerly, and charm away her fears; and indeed Naomi herself was not now the same light-hearted being that once she was. Her natural spirits were subdued by care and by deep and serious reflection; but her trust in God, and perfect confidence in his overruling Providence, and his fatherly care for his children in Christ, had replaced the buoyant feelings that arose from youth and health and happiness, and conscious powers of mind and body. Naomi saw that her friend was uneasy, and she shared her apprehensions, for she perceived that her brother's mind was disturbed, and that he was evidently engaged in some pursuit which made him more gloomy and abstracted than ever. He also questioned her frequently as to the sentiments of Theophilus, and appeared to indulge a hope that he would abandon his new religion, and return to the faith in which he was brought up. Occasionally he would lament that so well-disposed a youth should have become the victim of such wild delusions; and endeavour, as if casually, to discover from his sister whether Amaziah and Judith were infected with the same heresy. He had never yet been informed of their removal to Pella, and Naomi's residence with them there, which was known only to his own family. He supposed that his sister had dwelt with them in their country-house in Bethany during her long absence from home; and as he knew also that Theophilus had remained in Jerusalem the whole of that time, he hoped that she had escaped the pollution of his opinions. Naomi guessed his object in the questions he put to her, and evaded them with wonderful quickness and ingenuity; but from other sources he obtained the information which he sought, and no doubt rested on his mind that his uncle and aunt were Nazarenes in their hearts; and, worse than all, that his sister had been instructed in their detested doctrines. [Illustration: MARY OF BETHANY INTERRUPTED BY JAVAN.]