M

EANWHILE, Leila lay hovering between life and death in the crowded prison. All the women We had contributed what outer cloth

ing they could spare, and on it she was stretched, so motionless and white, that the feeble glimmer of life seemed almost extinguished. Near her sat Ione, and in her arms lay the tiny infant, whose existence had begun in the midst of so much sorrow. Ione felt all the depths of her mother's heart stirred as she remembered her joy on the birth of her own little ones, and once more she longed to live, if only to guard and watch over Leila's child, who might so soon be left destitute of a mother's care.

At length the beams of the rising sun struggled into the room, and Leila's eyes opened with a long, tender gaze on Ione and her little charge, and she signed to have it laid beside her.

"Ione," she whispered, "if I die, and no other protector comes forward for my little one, will you be a mother to her as long as you are able ?"

"As long as I have life," was the solemn answer, "she shall be to me as my own; but oh how hard for you to leave her here alone!"

"Not alone, dear Ione; Jesus, who was once a little child, will be with her."

"But now He is so great and powerful will He stoop to regard an infant ? I always thought of the gods as far above our sorrows and emotions."

"Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,” replied Leila, "and no sorrow is too small for Him to sympathize with. No, I am not afraid to trust my darling to Him."

Ione drew away, and sat musing deeply. When her little ones were taken from her, she had no comfort in the thought of a Heavenly Guardian; she knew that the Supreme must be obeyed, but the thought of loving Him never entered her mind; yet here was Leila, but lately brought to the knowledge of Jesus Christ,

DEATH.

and yet she could trust Him implicitly, and so find peace. Light was gradually dawning on the Greek widow, a new hope seemed to be springing up in her heart; as yet it was but a faint gleam, but that night Ione prayed for the first time to the King of the Jews-to that Saviour whom Leila found so precious.

The next day their number received another addition; a man in the dress of a Roman soldier, with a lowering countenance, who had been taken captive in war.

He was severely wounded, and sank on the rough floor with a groan. Leila had found a few moments' respite from her grief in sleep, and Ione was gazing dreamily through the grating up into the blue sky, when that groan aroused her. In an instant every vestige of colour fled from her face, and she was about to spring to her feet in indignation, when some words she had seen in one of Leila's books crossed her mind :-" Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you" and turning away, she sent up an inward prayer for grace to give herself completely to Jesus, and strength to fulfil His commands. A few moments more, and she was bending over the wounded man, offering to do her best to allay his suffering; truly a conquest had been won over hatred and malice, when Ione could thus address her greatest enemy, Cineas.

He only answered by groans, and Ione, who was skilful in such matters, divested herself of her mantle of white linen, and tearing it into strips, she proceeded to dress the wounds as tenderly as though they had been her father's. Nor was it strange that Cineas did not at first recognise his country woman, for though sorrow and privation could not change the exquisite contour of her features, yet they had whitened and hollowed her cheek, and stolen the light from her blue eyes; and it was not until her careful attentions had brought him some relief, that Cineas, with a wild start, caught her hand, and fixed his gleam

ing eyes on her pale face. Involuntarily Ione shrank from him, his gaze was so like that of a serpent; but then she repented of the thought, and when he cried, "Ione! is it you?" she made no answer, save that of a slight inclination of the head. He went on, "why are you here, and why do you treat me thus? do you know that I am Cineas? yes, you may know it all now, I murdered your husband, and I robbed you of your children.”

"I know you, Cineas," she answered, quietly; "but oh! tell me, what has become of my children ?" She waited in agony for the reply, but Cineas seemed not to have heard her question, for he only said abruptly, "Are you a Christian ?"

A burning blush crimsoned Ione's cheek as she said slowly, "No, I grieve to say that I have not yet been baptized, but I have learnt to love Jesus Christ, and would strive to live like Him."

"I do not understand such nice distinctions," rejoined Cineas, scornfully; “as you say you love that Galilean who was hung years ago, I presume you are a Christian, and so you will be rejoiced to hear that one of your children is residing with a member of that community."

"With a Christian ? oh! thank God!" cried Ione, "but where ?"

"In a small dwelling on the outskirts of this city. I believe the lady is wealthy, but she lives in poverty, in order that she may spend her fortune on the wants of others." He paused for a moment, and then continued, "She saw the two about to be sold, and bought them, intending, I believe, to bring them up in her religion, and then set them free."

"You say one is with her!" cried the mother, passionately; "but where is the other ?"

"He died soon after she had taken him."

Ione turned away, without a word or glance. For long she remained seated motionless on the ground, her face hidden in her hands. Yet even in this bitter hour of bereavement hope had not entirely for saken her; one precious child was already beyond the reach of all pain, the other would be brought up in the faith of Christ,

and soon the fiery trial would be over, and they would have gone―

"Home, to the Angel land,

Home, where no shadows fall."

The next day Cineas died, after earnestly imploring Ione's pardon, and she felt as though her work on earth was almost done. But it was not so; her weary spirit was to find a season of peace, even on this side of the dark river, her road home was to be longer and easier than Leila's.

CHAPTER V. "VICTORY."

THAT evening, when the stern soldier who guarded the prisoners brought them their scanty pittance of food, he walked up to Leila, and stood looking at her and the little frail babe who lay by her side. Ione thankfully saw that Leila was sleeping, and she trembled as she saw the expression of malicious triumph that gathered over the man's dark countenance; but before he left the dungeon the young mother awoke with a start, and looked up, silent with terror.

"I come to-night," said the soldier, "to ask if you still persist in your fanatical notions, or whether you are ready devoutly to acknowledge the Star of Jacob as such. "Perchance," he added, in a lower tone, "you think you have suffered enough, but I tell you it is not so, further punishment is in store for you, unless you renounce your errors."

Leila paused, and then answered calmly, "I cannot: my Saviour, Jesus Christ, He, and He only is the Star of Jacob."

"Good," returned the man, with a scornful smile, "then your doom is sealed, to morrow you die, and for the present, that you may have more leisure to consider your evil ways, I will relieve you of this burden;" so saying, he stooped down, raised the infant in his arms, and retreated from the room.

Of the agonies of mind that Leila suffered during that terrible night we will not speak, but in the morning when their guard again appeared, her lips were powerless to ask the question that was upper

most in her heart, as Ione, with flashing eyes, demanded, "Where is the child ?"

"Where the mother soon will be," he said, significantly; then turning to Leila, "at sunset, this evening, you shall follow."

But when he entered to give the summons, he saw the Jewess lying to all appearance lifeless, while beside her sat Ione, silent, and in tears. The soldier stood still for a time, and then muttered with an oath, "Vengeance has overtaken her, but I would it had been left for us to do!" As he closed the door behind him, on his exit from the chamber, a man approached in disguise, as he had done before; Joseph's anxiety had become so insupportable, that he determined to make one more effort to learn whether his wife was alive or dead.

"Oh!" cried the sentinel, mockingly, "you have come for tidings, I suppose, but you may have her corpse, we don't want dead prisoners."

Joseph staggered against the wall, stunned by the fearful tidings, then rallying all his forces, he rushed into the

room.

He bent down to the pale face, and murmured, "Leila, my little Leila!" but no response came, and he raised the still form in his arms, when his eye fell on Ione.

'Esther," he said, mournfully, "God bless you for all your kindness to her, but I can do nothing for you; I cannot save you! oh, it is cruel to leave you thus alone!"

"Not so," she answered, softly; "have you forgotten who has said, 'Fear not, for I am with thee ?'"

She pressed a fervent kiss on Leila's forehead, and then Joseph turned away, wrapping his burden in his own mantle. He passed on swiftly through the streets to his own house, and went straight up to Leila's favourite resort, the roof, and there, on the couch where she often before had reclined, he laid her gently down.

It was some seconds before he ventured to remove the covering from her face, but at length he did so, and gazed tenderly on her loved features. Suddenly his heart gave a wild leap; was it delusion? or had the fresh night wind that blew on that

still face made any change in it? Yes, it was no fancy; the long lashes slightly moved, the eyelids quivered, the faintest dawn of colour tinged her cheek. In a tumult of hope and fear, Joseph wouldhave summoned the servants to bring restoratives; but his arm supported the drooping figure, and he knew not how to withdraw it. The fresh air and the luxurious couch were all that were needed to restore consciousness, until at length her dark eyes unclosed, and she murmured, "Where am I? is death over ?"

"You are with me, my darling, my precious one. Oh! God, I thank Thee!" Then, as a look of perfect rest broke over her face, Joseph ventured to leave her, and went down to get some cordials to restore her more fully.

How deeply thankful he felt that this evening was the one on which he had chosen to go to the prison; how thankful also, for the long heavy swoon which had made Leila appear lifeless, and so led to her release.

It was not for long; he saw plainly that the hand of death was upon her, and she was fast hastening to that fair country for which she had longed so intensely during the last few months.

When her husband returned, Leila was lying in her old position looking at the stars; on his approach she moved slightly, and laid her hand in his with a smile, but then the remembrance of their last interview came across her, and she turned away her head half in fear.

"My darling," said Joseph, in a low voice, can you ever forgive me?"

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"Forgive you! Oh, Joseph, then you love me again as you used to do;" she exclaimed, while tears of joy filled her eyes.

"Ah, Leila, I have loved you all the time, though you can never believe it. I strove to crush the love out from my heart, but it was useless; no, I never ceased to love you, though I acted towards you as a demon, and now I am your murderer."

"Nay, Joseph, it is only that God has prepared my place in heaven, and is taking me to meet my babe; there is no sorrow, no separation."