Of a soul in the snare of sin.

"My days they withered like rootless things,
And the sands rolled on, rolled wide;
Like a pelican I, with broken wings,
Like a drifting barque on the tide.

"But at last, in the light of a rose-red day,
In the windless glow of the morn,
From over the hills and from far away,
You came--ah, the joy of the morn!

"And wherever your footsteps fell, there crept
A path--it was fair and wide:
A desert road which no sands have swept,
Where never a hope has died.

"I followed you forth, and your beauty held
My heart like an ancient song;
By that desert road to the blossoming plains
I came-and the way was long!

"So I set my course by the light of your eyes;
I care not what fate may send;
On the road I tread shine the love-starred skies--
The road with never an end."

Not many men can do things like that, and the other things, too,
that he does. Perhaps he will win through, by himself, but is it
fair to have him run the risk? If he ever did you a good turn, as
you once said to me he did, won't you help him now? You are on the
inside of political things, and if you make up your mind to help,
nothing will stop you--that was your grandmother's way. He ought to
get his backing pretty soon, or it won't be any good.... I
hear him at his flute. I expect he's tired waiting for me. Well,
give my love to the girls!
T. L.

As Hylda read, she passed through phases of feeling begotten of new
understanding which shook her composure. She had seen David and all that
David was doing; Egypt, and all that was threatening the land through
the eyes of another who told the whole truth--except about his own
cowardice, which was untrue. She felt the issues at stake. While the
mention of David's personal danger left her sick for a moment, she saw
the wider peril also to the work he had set out to do.

What was the thing without the man? It could not exist--it had no
meaning. Where was he now? What had been the end of the battle? He
had saved others, had he saved himself? The most charmed life must be
pierced by the shaft of doom sooner or later; but he was little more
than a youth yet, he had only just begun!

"And the Saadat looks as though he was ready for his grave--but keeps
going, going, going!"