the dark? All this
Is proof of perfect love that would have shared
A leper's doom rather than give me up.
Can I doubt her who dared to love like this?

SABALLIDIN:
O master, doubt her not,--but know her name;
Ruahmah! It was she alone who wrought
This wondrous work of love. She won the King
By the strong pleading of resistless hope
To furnish forth this company. She led
Our march, kept us in heart, fought off despair,
Offered herself to you as to her god,
Watched over you as if you were her child,
Prepared your food, your cup, with her own hands,
Sang you asleep at night, awake at dawn,--

NAAMAN: [_Interrupting._]
Enough! I do remember every hour
Of that sweet comradeship! And now her voice
Wakens the echoes in my lonely breast;
The perfume of her presence fills my sense
With longing. All my soul cries out in vain
For her embracing, satisfying love,
her eyes and called her my Ruahmah!

[_To his soldiers._]

Away! away! I burn to take the road
That leads me back to Rimmon's House,--
But not to bow,--by God, never to bow!

TIME: _Three days later_

SCENE II

_Inner court of the House of Rimmon; a temple with huge pillars at each
side. In the right foreground the seat of the King; at the left, of
equal height, the seat of the High Priest. In the background a broad
flight of steps, rising to a curtain of cloudy gray, embroidered with
two gigantic hands holding thunderbolts. The temple is in half
darkness at first. Enter KHAMMA and NUBTA, robed as Kharimati, or
religious dancers, in gowns of black gauze with yellow embroideries and
mantles._

KHAMMA:
All is ready for the rites of worship; our lady will play a great part
in them. She has put on her Tyrian robes, and all her ornaments.

NUBTA:
That is a sure sign of a religious purpose. She is most devout, our
lady Tsarpi!

KHAMMA:
A favourite of Rimmon, too! The High Priest has assured her of it.
He is a great man,--next to the King, now that Naaman is gone.

NUBTA:
But if Naaman should come back, healed of the leprosy?

KHAMMA:
How can he come back? The Hebrew slave that went away with him, when
they caught her, said that he was dead. The High Priest has shut her
up in the prison of the temple, accusing her of her master's death.

NUBTA:
Yet I think he does not believe it, for I heard him telling our
mistress what to do if Naaman should return.

KHAMM