ggar."
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.

"Forward!" shouted the leader again, and with a grateful smile helped the
generous lady into the chariot, marvelling at the happy, radiant gaze
with which