CHAPTER 111.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1813, 18 July 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHAPTER 111.

At break of day next morning, Namarah, accompanied by her maidens, dressed all in sad garments of mourning, passed through the streets of Mizpeh and wended their way toward the mountains, and as they passed along, behold the people came forth of their houses to look upon them, and ever as they saw the maidens, in their sackcloth and ashes, men and women, and even little children, lifted up their voices and wept, for the vow that Jephthah had vowed unto the Lord was known unto all the people ; also that the maiden Namarah was gone, according unto the custom of the daughters of Israel, to bewail upon the mountains with the maidens, her companions, that the Lord had seen fit to take away from her the glory of motherhood and the hope that to her might come the honor of giving birth unto the deliverer of Israel. And as the maidens walked with sad and measured steps, the maiden Namarah walked ever at their head, her stately height and noble form swathed in sackclotli. And, although the hood of her mantle hid her face from view, the people said she sobbed, in passsing, because that they saw the fluttering rise and fall of her breast beneath the folds of her gown. But Namarah was not weeping. Her brow was calm and solemn, and her great eyes serene as be stars. Her vigil had made her pale as the ashes wherewith she had sprinkled her garments, but the look of her face was strong and confident, and ever she whispered in the silence of her heart " He will deliver." As the town was left behind, and the rugged mountain path up which they were to wend their toilsome way was come in view, Namarah paused, and the maidens who followed, pausing also, Baw. her part the folds ot her garment and take therefrom the messenger-dove which had al- . ready served so faithfully She spake no word, neither looked she to the right nor the left, while all the maidens wondered, but lifting it to her lips she gently kissed it, then raising her arm above her head she held it on her open palm, giving it a little impulse upward, at which it spread its wings and flew, with a sure and steady flight backward along the path that they had come. Namarah stood and looked at it until the whiteness of its feathers was even one with the whiteness of the clouds, and then she turned about and began to climb the mountain-path, her maidens following. Then were there j tears in her eyes, in that moment, which overflowed and fell upon her cheek, but no eye there was that saw them save the Eye that seeth all. Now, the young man Adina, having spent the night in ceaseless vigil also, was at the casementof his window, before the earliest Btreak of dawn, his life-blood throbbing to the thought that he was to see once more the form of her whom his soul so greatly' loved, albeit speech and touch would be denied him. It had been the maiden's wish that she might not see him on this fateful morning, lest that the sight of his un happiness might cause her courage to give way. Still it was known to her the house wherein he dwelt, and he waited with his soul athirst, to see her make to him some sign of parting as she passed beneath the casement of his win--* dow. The blood flew surging to his heart as the group of maidens came in sight, their mourning garments rosied o'er by the glory of the rising sun, and their approach heralded by the wailings of the people who lined the streets on either side. His face went deadly white, and he was fain to clutch with both his hands at the casement of the window to keep f roai falling baok. Onwaad she moved toward him, the form that he was wont to fondle in his arms screened from his loving eyes by those harah draperies, from which the ashes fell, as the morning breezes played about her. He was screened from view behind a curtain, but the resolution upon him, that if she turned and looked, for even one instant upward, he wouldthrow the curtain back and look at her, that she might (=ee the mighty love-light in his face, and the compassion wherewith he pitied her. Strong man as he was it was a bitter thing to bear that she should go onward to suffering and death, and he stand by, in bodily safety, and see it. But Namarah looked not up, and as she passed beneath his window, her sweet head was bent forward, and she walked on calmly as if in total unconsciousness of the dying heart that beat so near her. It seemed to him to be a cruel thing, untender and unthoughtful, and Adina rent his clothes, and turned away from the window with great groans of anguish that made one with the wailings of the people in the streets. It almost seemed to him as though he was nothing to her — as though she loved him not, and thought no more of him and of his love and woe. He paced the room, with the long strides of an angry beast, and ever and anon great sobs, that brought with them no soothing tears, shook mightily his strong young breast.— (To he continued) JD 3