Here they stopped, and seeing that the moment of separation was at hand, Miriam's tears began to flow.
"Weep not, beloved child," said Ithiel, "for though we part with you in body, yet shall we always be with you in the spirit, now in this life, and as we think, after this life.

Moreover, by night and day, we shall watch over you, and if any attempt to harm you--" here he glanced at Benoni, that brother-in-law to whom he bore but little love--"the very winds will bear us tidings, and in this way or that, help will come." "Have no fear, Ithiel," broke in Benoni, "my bond, which you hold, is good and it will be backed by love." "That I believe also," said Miriam; "and if it be so, grandsire, I will repay love for love." Then she turned to the Essenes and thanked them in broken words.
"Be not downhearted," said Ithiel in a thick voice, "for I hope that even in this life we shall meet again." "May it be so," answered Miriam, and they parted, the Essenes returning sadly to their home, and Benoni taking the road through Jericho to Jerusalem.
Travelling slowly, at the evening of the second day they set their camp on open ground not far from the Damascus gate of the Holy City, but within the new north wall that had been built by Agrippa.

Into the city itself Benoni would not enter, fearing lest the Roman soldiers should plunder them.

At moonrise Nehushta took Miriam by the hand and led her through the resting camels to a spot a few yards from the camp.
There, standing with her back to the second wall, she pointed out to her a cliff, steep but of no great height, in which appeared little caves and ridges of rock that, looked at from this distance, gave to its face a rude resemblance to a human skull.
"See," she said solemnly.

"Yonder the Lord was crucified." Miriam heard and sank to her knees in prayer.