Nay, surely it was no vision, surely it was Nehushta herself who looked at her with loving eyes, for see! she made the sign of the cross in the air before her, the symbol of Christian hope and greeting, then laid her finger upon her lips in token of secrecy and silence.

The curtain closed and she was gone, who not five seconds before had so mysteriously appeared.
Miriam's knees gave way beneath her, and while the marshals shouted to the procession to set forward, she felt that she must sink to the ground.

Indeed, she would have fallen had not some woman in the crowd stepped forward and thrust a goblet of wine into her hands, saying: "Drink that, Pearl-Maiden, it will make your pale cheeks even prettier than they are." The words were coarse, but Miriam, looking at the woman, knew her for one of the Christian community with whom she had worshipped in the catacombs.

So she took the cup, fearing nothing, and drank it off.

Then new strength came to her, and she went forward with the others on that toilsome, endless march.
At length, however, it did end, an hour or so before sunset.