God had specially designed her ignorant, so that they might know that
the day before them was for enjoyment. You said, Sir, that if none could
direct us we might leave the story until to-morrow. I did not say that,
Azariah answered. All the same he did not propose to wait for another
maiden more learned than the first, but followed Joseph to the gates of
the city, nor did he raise any objection to passing through them, and
they stood with their eyes fixed on the path that led over the brow down
into the valley, a crooked twisting path that had seemed steep to
Azariah's mule overnight and that now seemed steeper to Azariah. And
will seem still steeper to me in the evening when we return home tired,
he said. But we shall not be tired, Joseph interposed, we need not go
very far, only a little way into the forest. And he did not dare to say
more, lest by some careless word he might provoke an unpremeditated
opposition.

He dreaded to hear the words on Azariah's lips: you have come here with
me to learn Hebrew and may not miss a lesson.... If he could persuade
Azariah into the path he would not turn back until they reached the
valley, and once in the valley, he might as well ascend the opposite
hill as go back and climb up the hill whence they had come. I am afraid,
said Azariah, that this cool morning will pass into a very hot day: the
clouds that veil the sky are dispersing. We shall not feel the heat once
we are in the forest, Joseph replied, and the path up yonder hill is not
so steep as the paths we go down by. You see the road, Sir, twisting up
the hillside, and it is planned so carefully to avoid a direct ascent
that a man has just belaboured his ass into a trot. They have passed
behind a rock, but we shall see them presently.

Azariah waited a moment for the man and ass to reappear, but after all
he was not much concerned with them, and began to descend unmindful of