nd, stooping, he
knew for the first time the touch of a woman's lips.

XIV

The Master of the Mint was overjoyed to celebrate the Messiah's
marriage under his own gilded roof. To the few who shook their heads
at the bride's past, Sabbatai made answer that the prophecies must be
fulfilled, and that he; too, had had visions in which he was
commanded, like the prophet Hosea, to marry an unchaste wife. And his
disciples saw that it was a great mystery, symbolizing what the Lord
had spoken through the mouth of Jeremiah: "Again I will build thee and
thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned
with thy tabrets and shall go forth in the dances of them that make
merry." So the festivities set in, and the Palace was filled with
laughter and dancing and merrymaking.

And Melisselda inaugurated the reign of joy. Her advent brought many
followers to Sabbatai. Thousands fell under the spell of her beauty,
her queenly carriage, gracious yet gay. A new spirit of romance was
born in ritual-ridden Israel. Men looked upon their wives
distastefully, and the wives caught something of her fire and bearing
and learnt the movement of abandon and the glance of passion. And so,
with a great following, enriched by the beauty of Melisselda and the
gold of the Master of the Mint, Sabbatai returned to redeem Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was intoxicated with joy: the prophecies of Elijah the
Tishbite, known on earth as Nathan of Gaza, were borne on wings of air
to the four corners of the world.

"To the Remnant of the Israelites," he wrote, "Peace without
end. Behold I go to meet the face of our Lord, whose majesty be
exalted, for he is the Sovereign of the King of Kings, whose
empire be enlarged. And now I come to make known unto you that
though ye have heard strange things of our Lord, yet let not
your hearts faint or fear, but rather fortify yourselves in your
Faith because all his actions are miraculous and secret, which
human understanding cannot comprehend, and who can penetrate
into the depth of them? In a brief time all things shall be
manifested to you clearly in their purity, and ye shall know and
consider and be instructed by the Inventor himself. Blessed is
he who can expect and arrive to the Salvation of the true
Messiah, who will speedily publish his Authority and Empire over
us now and for ever.

"NATHA