"From the venerable Ben Isaac, whose son Israel thou didst pity and relieve at the fountain of the shepherds." She said this gratefully and with feeling. "Thou didst hear of this?" "He was of my kinsfolk. They told me of your kindness with tears and blessings; for it is so unusual with our people to hear in Egypt the voice of pity, or behold a look of sympathy!" "I hope the lad recovered," I said, feeling that her knowledge of that little incident had removed from between us the barrier which separates entire strangers. Besides, dear mother, it is impossible for me, a Syrian, to look upon the Hebrew people, who are also Syrians by descent from Abram, the Syrian prince, with Egyptian eyes and prejudices. They regard them as slaves, and look upon them from the position of the master. I never have known them as slaves, I am not their master, and I regard them, therefore, with interest and sympathy, as an unhappy Syrian people, who deserve a better fate, which I trust their gods have in store for them. Therefore, while an Egyptian would feel it a degradation, or at least infinite condescension, to converse familiarly with a Hebrew of either sex, I have no such inborn and inbred ideas. Miriam was in my eyes only a beautiful and dignified Syrian woman, in bondage. No doubt, if the proud and queenly Luxora had passed by, and discovered me in conversation with her, she would have marvelled at my taste; or have been displeased at an impropriety so unworthy of my position; for though, wheresoever I have seen Hebrews domesticated in families, I have observed the affability and kindness with which their faithful services are usually rewarded by those they serve, yet there cannot be a wider gulf between the realms of Osiris and Typhon, than between the Egyptian of rank and the Hebrew. The few thousand of the more refined and attractive of both sexes, who are to be found in palaces and the houses of nobles, are too limited in number to qualify the feeling of contempt with which the miserable millions of their brethren, who toil in the brick-fields south of On, between the Nile and the desert, and in other parts of Egypt, are universally regarded. Even the lowest Egyptian is deemed by himself above the best of the Ben Israels. What marvel, therefore, that the handsome, dark-eyed youths who serve as pages, and the beautiful brunettes who wait upon mistresses, have a sad and timid air, and wear a gentle, deprecating look, as if they were fully conscious of their degradation! "He is well," Miriam answered, "and desires me to ask you (I pray you pardon the presumption!) if he may serve you?" "I learn that a stranger cannot take a Hebrew into service," I answered. "True. We are the servants of the Egyptians," she said, sadly. "But the great Prince Remeses, son of Pharaoh's daughter, will suffer it if you ask him. Will you do this for the lad? Otherwise he will perish in the field, for his spirit and strength are not equal to his tasks."