ery word had pierced her
bosom like the thrust of a lance. The power of truth had given each its
full emphasis and held up to Miriam a mirror that showed her an image
from which she shrank.

Now she longed to rush after him and beg him to restore the love with
which he had hitherto surrounded her--and which the lonely woman had
gratefully felt.

She knew that she could reciprocate his costly gift; for how ardently
she longed to have one kind, forgiving word from his lips.

Her soul seemed withered, parched, torpid, like a corn-field on which a
poisonous mildew has fallen; yet it had once been green and blooming.

She thought of the tilled fields in Goshen which, after having borne an
abundant harvest, remained arid and bare till the moisture of the river
came to soften the soil and quicken the seed which it had received. So
it had been with her soul, only she had flung the ripening grain
into the fire and, with blasphemous hand, erected a dam between the
fructifying moisture and the dry earth.

But there was still time!

She knew that he erred in one respect; she knew she was like all other
women, capable of yearning with ardent passion for the man she loved. It
depended solely on herself to make him feel this in her arms.

Now, it is true, he was justified in thinking her harsh and unfeeling,
for where love had once blossomed in her soul, a spring of bitterness
now gushed forth poisoning all it touched.

Was this the vengeance of the heart whose ardent wishes she had
heroically slain?

God had disdained her sorest sacrifice; this it was impossible to doubt;
for His majesty was no longer revealed to her in visions that exalted
the heart, and she was scarcely entitled to call herself His prophetess.
This sacrifice had led her, the truth-loving woman, into falsehood and
plunged her who, in the consciousness of seeking the right path lived
at peace with herself, into torturing unrest. Since that great and
difficult deed she, who had once been full of hope, had obtained nothing
for which she longed. She, who recognized no woman as her superior, had
been obliged to yield in shame her place to a poor dying Egyptian. She
had been kindly disposed toward all who were of her blood, and
were devoted to the sacred cause of her people, and now her hostile
bitterness had wounded one of the best and noblest. The poorest
bondman's wife rejoiced to bind more and more closely the husband who
had once loved her--she had wickedl