But Israel stood long on the floor with his hand on his heart and his eyes to the ground, and he called on God as a debtor that will not be appeased, saying:  “How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord?  My enemies triumph over me and foretell Thy doom upon me.  They sit in the lurking-places of the streets to deride me.  Confound my enemies, O Lord, and rebuke their counsels.  Remember Ruth, I beseech Thee, that she is patient and her heart is humbled.  Give her children of Thy servant, and her first-born shall be sanctified unto Thee.  Give her one child, and it shall be Thine—­if it is a son, to be a Rabbi in Thy synagogues.  Hear me, O Lord, and give heed to my cry, for behold, I swear it before Thee.  One child, but one, only one, son or daughter, and all my desire is before Thee.  How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord?”

The message of the Khaleefa which Israel had not answered in his trouble was a request from the Shereef of Wazzan that he should come without delay to that town to count his rent-charges and assess his dues.  This request the Governor had transformed into a command, for the Shereef was a prince of Islam in his own country, and in many provinces the believers paid him tribute.  So in three days’ time Israel was ready to set out on his journey, with men and mules at his door, and camels packed with tents.  He was likely to be some months absent from Tetuan, and it was impossible that Ruth should go with him.  They had never been separated before, and Ruth’s concern was that they should be so long parted, but Israel’s was a deeper matter.

“Ruth,” he said when his time came, “I am going away from you, but my enemies remain.  They see evil in all my doings, and in this act also they will find offence.  Promise me that if they make a mock at you for your husband’s sake you will not see them; if they taunt you that you will not hear them; and if they ask anything concerning me that you will answer them not at all.”

And Ruth promised him that if his enemies made a mock at her she should be as one that was blind, if they taunted her as one that was deaf, and if they questioned her concerning her husband as one that was dumb.  Then they parted with many tears and embraces.

Israel was half a year absent in the town and province of Wazzan, and, having finished the work which he came to do, he was sent back to Tetuan loaded with presents from the Shereef, and surrounded by soldiers and attendants, who did not leave him until they had brought him to the door of his own house.

And there, in her chamber, sat Ruth awaiting him, her eyes dim with tears of joy, her throat throbbing like the throat of a bird, and great news on her tongue.

“Listen,” she whispered; “I have something to tell you—­”

“Ah, I know it,” he cried; “I know it already.  I see it in your eyes.”

“Only listen,” she whispered again, while she toyed with the neck of his kaftan, and coloured deeply, not daring to look into his face.