heart
As cold and proud? How nobly thou forgivest!
Thou com'st to hold me from the last disgrace,--
The coward's flight into the dark. Go back
Unstained, my sword! Life is endurable
While there is one alive on earth who loves us,

RUAHMAH:
My lord,--my lord,--O listen! You have erred,--
You do mistake me now,--this dream--

NAAMAN:
Ah, wake me not! For I can conquer death
Dreaming this dream. Let me at last believe,
Though gods are cruel, a woman can be kind.
Grant me but this! For see,--I ask so little,--
Only to know that thou art faithful,--
Only to lean upon the thought that thou,
My wife, art near me, though I touch thee not,--
O this will hold me up, though it be given
From pity more than love.

RUAHMAH: [_Trembling, and speaking slowly._]
Not so, my lord!
My pity is a stream; my pride of thee
Is like the sea that doth engulf the stream;
My love for thee is like the sovran moon
That rules the sea. The tides that fill my soul
Flow unto thee and follow after thee;
And where thou goest I will go; and where
Thou diest I will die,--in the same hour.

[_She lays her hand on his arm. He draws back._]

NAAMAN:
O touch me not! Thou shall not share my doom.

RUAHMAH:
Entreat me not to go. I will obey
In all but this; but rob me not of this,--
The only boon that makes life worth the living,--
To walk beside thee day by day, and keep
Thy foot from stumbling; to prepare thy food
When thou art hungry, music for thy rest,
And cheerful words to comfort thy black hour;
And so to lead thee ever on, and on,
Through darkness, till we find the door of hope.

NAAMAN:
What word is that? The leper has no hope.

RUAHMAH:
Dear lord, the mark upon thy brow is yet
No broader than my little finger-nail.
Thy force is not abated, and thy step
Is firm. Wilt thou surrender to the enemy
Before thy strength is touched? Why, let me put
A drop of courage from my breast in thine.
There is a hope for thee. The captive maid
Of Israel who dwelt within thy house
Knew of a god very compassionate,
Long-suffering, slow to anger, one who heals
The sick, hath pity on the fatherless,
And saves the poor and him who has no helper.
His prophet dwells nigh to Samaria;
And I have heard that he hath brought the dead
To life again. We'll go to him. The King,
If I beseech him, will appoint a guard
Of thine own sol