CHAPTER XXV.

THE market-place was still busily occupied by the merchants and traders of Nain, and a few of the labourers yet stood unhired on their station, when Sephora and Keroob reached it, in their way to the judgment-gate. The crowd was so thick on that side they were to pass, that she expressed her fears to him lest they should not be able to get through it. He answered her only by an exulting smile, and before he had time to speak she heard his name repeated on all sides, and saw the throng yield on the right hand and on the left, and a clear road made for him to go through. But though the path was opened, their speed in getting through it was not much accelerated, for he received such numerous and obsequious tokens of respect, that their steps were every moment retarded. But few presumed to salute him as an equal, by laying their hand on their

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bosom and inclining towards him. greater part of the multitude acknowledged him as their superior by bowing down before him and kissing his feet or the hem of his garment; and so many paid this compliment, that the sun sensibly declined towards the west while he was making his way through the greetings of the market-place. When he arrived at the gate, the elders rose up before him and remained standing till he had taken his seat. The crowd here was almost as great as that they had lately passed through, for there were several causes to be decided; and almost every one, whose business led them in or out of the city, waited to hear what judgments would be given.

The party that claimed the right of being first heard, as having been the longest in waiting, were a man and his wife, who were weary of each other.

As soon as Keroob was seated, the man advanced and put into his hand the gheth, or bill of divorcement, written on vellum. He looked at it, and then asked him whether he was voluntarily inclined to do what he

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had done. He replied he was; on which Keroob desired the woman to open her hands, in order to receive the deed lest it should fall to the ground. She did so; and he then made a similar inquiry of her, and received the like answer. She delivered the gheth again into his hands, and he read it aloud before all the people, and declared that they were free.

When this affair was decided, a Hebrew servant, whose six years of servitude were expired, came to declare before the judges, that he loved his master, and his wife, and his children; and that he would not accept his freedom and go forth from them, but would serve his master for ever.

A delinquent was next brought forward, who was accused of having removed the landmark of the Fatherless. But this accusation could not be substantiated.

A penitent thief then advanced, who confessed to having stolen an ox, and he brought five oxen to make restitution.

A man was next conducted into the presence of the judges, who was a transgressor

of the law. He had seen the ass of him that hated him sink under its burden, and had refused to help him. This was a crime whose punishment was not exactly defined, but was left to the discretion of the judges. As the offender was a Nethinim they only fined him a drachm of silver.

What was considered as the grand business of the day was the last that came under consideration. It was the purchase of the possession of a field, and the rocks and caves adjoining it, that belonged to Zibo the Nainite. The purchaser was Lebbeus, who was also the next inheritor. The possession lay along the southern confines of Mount Hermon; the price of it was ten shekels of silver and two ounces of gold. It was weighed in the balances at the gate, and delivered to Zibo in the sight of all the people. A covenant in writing, sealed with clay, stamped with the signet of Keroob, and inclosed in an earthen jar, was then given to Lebbeus as an evidence of the purchase; and the people were called upon by the judges to witness the transaction, who

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all lifted up their voices and answered, we are witnesses."

The bargain was thus made sure, and the court about to dissolve, when a widow, followed by ten children, came forward and threw herself before the feet of Keroob, entreating his clemency, and beseeching him to wait for the debt that her husband had owed him, till her sons and her daughters should grow up and be able to repay him; for their only wealth was their little patrimony, and their only dependance the exertions of her eldest child, who toiled hard from the rising to the setting sun to procure them a scanty maintenance. Keroob told her that he was just rising from the gate, but he would hear her request at his own house. He spoke in such a gentle voice of compassion, that it was almost equivalent to a promise of mercy. The widow's heart seemed gladdened by it. And Sephora, who had seen his profuse liberality in the morning, never doubted but he was full of kind intentions towards this real object of charity. Yet, some months afterwards, she had acci