Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1900-06-22
CHAPTER TX,

Then Namarah came again into his
arms, and while they clasped her close
with loves true tenderness, behold the
maiden began softly to weep, and said:
81 am even satisfied to die tonight,
knowing a love like thine If I die
and thou Invest, I beseech thee that
thou wilt be even as son unto my
father Jephthah, for his heart is brok-
en- within him, and by reason of his
VOW he giveth up his only child"
"That will Maiden" saith Adina;
"and if so be that I shall live and thou
diest, that will even be my work in
life. All, Namarah, my most holy and
most beauteous love, hast thou thought
upon the WEAKNESS and darkness of
the life that will lead without thee,
even through youth and manhood and
old age?"
"Yea, beloved, have thought of it,
she answered-"be sure that have
thought of it-with a heart made wild
with anguish, and it seemeth unto me
that thy fate is even harder one than
mine. But now that we have spoken
of these things, and thou knowest my
thoughts and wishes concerning thy
life, If thou are left to live it out with
out me, let us speak Of it no more, and
let us even, so far as in us lies, Danish
it from our thoughts. I would have
thee give me solemn pledge that
when I depart On the morrow, I, and
the maidens that be my companions,
thou wilt pray continually, as I shall
do, for deliverance. Kneel with me
now. Adina, and let us pray this
prayer, even in the silence of our
hearts"
And side by side, upon the grass be-
meath the white light of the moon, they
knelt together hand in hand, and lifted
up their hearts. So still and silent was
the night that the little brook which
ran through the garden, down at the
foot of the hill, could be heard gurg-
ling over it's stones and the notes of
the doves in their house near by sound
ed mournfully and pleadingly in their
ears. The soft wind of the summer
Ol6AI pay Cu SAtly ONSl LlICll DOW Su
heads, ruffling Adina's golden curls and
blowing against his throat long tress
of Namarah's silky hair. Long time
they knelt there, their bodies touching
only in that close hand-clasp, but their
souls fused into one.
When they rose from their knees and
stood erect in the pale moonlight, both
so tall and young and beautiful in their
fair white raiment, they turned and
wound their arms around each other
in an embrace of unspeakable love.
Again the night lay wrapped in silence.
Suddenly there was fluttering above
them, and white bird flew down and
alighted. There it nestled, with little
plaintive moan. AS the young man
and the maiden strove each to touch
and soothe it's ruf1led feathers, their
two hands met and clasped.
ut is the little messenger" said Ma
marah, as the bird crept closer to the
warmth of their necks, between the
arch made by their close-pressed
cheeks. 1T seemeth to be restless and
unhappy. There was one of my doves
killed by hawk one day. while this
messenger was gone with thee. Think
est thou it could have been it's mate?
l saw the great hawk swoop down upon
it one day, as it sat alone apart from
all the rest, and before I could run to
it's rescue, the poor little thing had
been carried off in those cruel claws.
Thou knowest-dost thou not?-that
the dove is the image of constancy,
and that when it once loses its mate it
takes none other evermore."
even as it shall be with me-"
breathed forth Adina. If I lose the
mate whereunto my soul Is already