“And the Syrian will keep his eyes sufficiently wide open,” cried Joshua.  “Now let us talk no more of this.  I believe you and thank you warmly for following us hapless mortals.  How fondly I used to think, while serving in the field, of the pretty child, whom I saw blooming into maidenhood.”

“And you will think of her still with neither wrath nor rancor?”

“Gladly, most gladly.”

The young widow, with passionate emotion, seized the prisoner’s hand to raise it to her lips, but he withdrew it; and, gazing at him with tears in her eyes, she said mournfully: 

“You deny me the favor a benefactor does not refuse even to a beggar.”  Then, suddenly drawing herself up to her full height, she exclaimed so loudly that the warder started and glanced at the sun:  “But I tell you the time will come when you will sue for the favor of kissing this hand in gratitude.  For when the messenger arrives bringing to you and to this youth the liberty for which you have longed, it will be Kasana to whom you owe it.”

Rapt by the fervor of the wish that animated her, her beautiful face glowed with a crimson flush.  Joshua seized her right hand, exclaiming: 

“Ah, if you could attain what your loyal soul desires!  How could I dissuade you from mitigating the great misfortune which overtook this youth in your house?  Yet, as an honest man, I must tell you that I shall never return to the service of the Egyptians; for, come what may, I shall in future cleave, body and soul, to those you persecute and despise, and to whom belonged the mother who bore me.”

Kasana’s graceful head drooped; but directly after she raised it again, saying: 

“No other man is so noble, so truthful, that I have known from my childhood.  If I can find no one among my own nation whom I can honor, I will remember you, whose every thought is true and lofty, whose nature is faultless.  Put if poor Kasana succeeds in liberating you, do not scorn her, if you find her worse than when you left her, for however she may humiliate herself, whatever shame may come upon her . . . .”

“What do you intend?” Hosea anxiously interrupted; but she had no time to answer; for the captain of the guard had risen and, clapping his hands, shouted:  “Forward, you moles!” and “Step briskly.”

The warrior’s stout heart was overwhelmed with tender sadness and, obeying a hasty impulse, he kissed the beautiful unhappy woman on the brow and hair, whispering: 

“Leave me in my misery, if our freedom will cost your humiliation.  We shall probably never meet again; for, whatever may happen, my life will henceforth be nothing but battle and sacrifice.  Darkness will shroud us in deeper and deeper gloom, but however black the night may be, one star will still shine for this boy and for me—­the remembrance of you, my faithful, beloved child.”

He pointed to Ephraim as he spoke and the youth, as if out of his senses, pressed his lips on the hand and arm of the sobbing woman.