Zadok and his unhappy brother had returned to their home, after the fruitless effort for the preservation of the prisoner. A crowd of persons were assembled round the door of the prison, and the cause of the disturbance which was heard within the walls soon reached them, and excited a great feeling of indignation against Amaziah. The Nazarenes were held in entire abhorrence by the populace; and the rumour that an attempt had been made to rescue a convicted heretic and others, to deprive them of the savage joy with which they always hailed the execution of such victims, filled them with rage. But when they beheld Amaziah come forth from the porch leaning on the arm of the holy and respected Zadok, the tide of feeling was divided. Some of those who knew and esteemed the character of the afflicted father, were touched by his profound but manly grief; while others loudly assailed him with insulting epithets, as the father of an apostate, and even as being suspected of sharing the guilt of his son. The presence and protection of Zadok, and the commanding manner in which by his voice and gestures he forbade the approach of the angry multitude, were hardly sufficient to prevent their rushing on Amaziah, and inflicting summary vengeance on this unoffending and almost broken-hearted man But those who pitied his sorrow united with his own attendants and followers, and formed a strong guard around the noble brothers, and in this manner conducted them safely to their own dwelling, amidst the cries and insults and curses of the infuriated mob. The anxious inmates of Zadok's house, who sat trembling and weeping while expecting the return of their relatives from the trial, were startled by the shouts of the approaching multitude; and for a moment their hopes were excited that these might be cries of joy and triumph, to announce the acquittal of the prisoner. But as the crowd came nearer, they heard the curses and blasphemies that were uttered in a loud and threatening tone; and while they felt that no hope remained of Theophilus being free, they also feared for the safety of those who were equally dear to them. They hastened to the housetop, from whence they could look down on the street below, and they were terrified at the tumult they beheld, and at the danger which seemed to menace both Amaziah and Zadok; for the priest himself had become an object of temporary wrath, from his connexion with the denounced and hated Nazarenes, and his determined efforts to protect his brother.