The afflicted family then left the house, and by the light of the torches with which they were provided, they bent their way towards the city. They were startled on entering the public road to perceive a band of men, also carrying lighted torches, approaching towards them, and for a moment they supposed that it was Javan returning to make a fresh attack; but the voice of their friend Benjamin speedily reassured them, and they hastened to communicate to him the death of Mary, and the subsequent calamitous event. It was now no longer necessary for the kind-hearted Benjamin to proceed to Mary's house, and he therefore insisted on joining his body of attendants to that of Amaziah, and conducting him and his family safe to their home; and in the litter which had been destined to carry the departed Christian, he placed Claudia, whose weakness made her almost incapable of proceeding on foot. Naomi and Judith walked beside her, and sought by every argument they could find to calm her agitation, and persuade her that there was every reason to hope for the speedy relief of Theophilus. Perhaps they appeared more sanguine than they really felt; but they could hardly believe that if it had actually been Javan who had thus deprived his cousin of liberty, he would refuse to listen to the entreaties of his family, or to be moved by the sorrow which he had brought upon them. It seemed too cruel even for Javan, to deliver his kinsman into the hands of those who would count his murder a meritorious act; and therefore they tried to believe that he only intended to detain them all in Jerusalem, until he had further ascertained their conversion to Christianity, and endeavoured to shake their faith by his arguments, and perhaps his threats. They entered the city without difficulty, by means of the private gate, and were passing up the dark and narrow lane which led to the offices of Zadok's house, when they saw a wild and haggard form approaching at a rapid pace under the shadow of the wall. It was the son of Ananus--that mysterious being who had not ceased to traverse the devoted city day and night ever since its peace and prosperity began to fail. His ghastly countenance and sad and hollow voice could not be mistaken. He advanced close to the litter on which the terrified Claudia was carried, and uttered loudly his oft-repeated burden of woe. "A voice from the east! a voice from the west! a voice from the four winds! a voice against Jerusalem and against the temple!"--Then pointing his skeleton finger towards Claudia, he uttered in a still more dismal tone, "A voice against the bridegrooms and the brides--a voice against the whole people!"