Had she not smiled that smile, Saul might have thought, 'Infatuated child!' and thought aloud. But that bright smile of almost humor sad Showed him how sanely her true self she was, And he was baffled, sudden-smitten dumb. He could not answer her; much less could he Bid bind those slender wrists with manacles And send his sister to imprisonment! So there Saul stood before her, marble-mute. Not long--for Ruth soon now came back, more calm, She having prayed beside her sleeping babes, And trusted them again to the Most High As Father, and from the Most High received Grace to bear graciously her testimony, Even by imprisonment, and children reft, For Stephen's Lord and hers. The others marked Ruth's placid changed demeanor, and gave thanks Silent to God who thus their prayer had heard. "I go," she said to Saul, "for Jesus' sake Wherever thou mayst lead. My babes I trust, As Stephen trusted them before he suffered, Unto the Father of the fatherless. Lo, I am ready--bind me--for His sake!" Never so ruefully had those hard men Bound any hands for prison as they bound hers; And scarcely Saul found steady voice to say: "Thy children shall be cared for tenderly, Till thou return to them in sounder mind; The fathers of our tribes will see to this." Then Rachel said, and saying it wept at last: "They would not bind me, Ruth, to take thy place, Though I entreated them while thou wert gone. I shall be left, unworthy to be left, If ye, beloved, are worthy to be taken! But, Ruth, if thou wilt let me, I shall stay And myself be a mother to thy babes, Nurturing them most lovingly, alike For thine, their father's, and their own sweet sakes. And I will daily bring thee word of them, Treasuring for thee each little syllable They lisp from day to day of loving speech Concerning father or mother gone away. They shall not lack whatever I can give Of mother's tendance, so as yet to feel That I am not their mother, only one Less wise, less good, less loving, and less fair Than she, who for their mother's sake loves them! All this, I trust, will not last very long, This motherlessness for them, this childlessness For thee--thou wilt come back--but, O Ruth, pray"-- Thus Rachel softly for Ruth sole to hear-- "For surely now thou understandest well, Too well! what then I meant when once I told thee, 'I too am widow as thou art, yet not As thou, since me stroke heavier has bereaved!'-- O Ruth, pray thou and never cease to pray For Saul, my brother!"