future husband of his daughter, seeing that Naamah had
disappeared, and was, besides, under the suspicion of being a
murderess. Achan's triumph was complete. His son was to take the
place of Azrikam, inherit the house of Joram, and marry the
beautiful Tamar.

In the meanwhile happened the fall of the kingdom of Samaria. The
Assyrians carried off the inhabitants captive, among them
Hananel, the father-in-law of Jedidiah. One of the captives, the
Samaritan priest Zimri, succeeded in making his escape, and he
fled to Jerusalem. The name of his fellow-prisoner Hananel, which
he used as a recommendation, opened the house and the trustful
heart of Jedidiah to him.

Tamar and Azrikam grew up side by side in the house of Jedidiah.
They differed from each other radically. Beautiful as Tamar
was, and good and generous, so ugly and perverse was Azrikam. The
maiden despised him with all her heart. One day Tamar, while
walking in the country near Bethlehem, was attacked by a lion. A
shepherd hastened to her rescue and saved her life. This shepherd
was none but Amnon, the son of the unfortunate Naamah.

Teman, the brother of Tamar, by chance happened upon Peninnah,
the sister of Amnon, who pretended she was an alien, and he was
seized with violent love for her. Thus the son and the daughter
of Jedidiah were infatuated, the one with the daughter of Naamah,
the other with her son, without suspecting who they were.

Amnon, who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of
Tabernacles, was received with joy, by Jedidiah and his wife, as