The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-12-11

love upon? Surely it was not to the sons of Miriam tl,at he gave his all?" Her voice was mocking and laughter shone in her gold -flecked eyes as they met his somber glance. and ridiculed the kings murder of his sons.
 He had no time now for the familiar teasing that had kept him hoping all these years that she was not as good as he knew her to be. It was a hope that had told him that if it would be to bear his child that she became less slim and lovely, he would not ride away to war as when she carried the child who sat wonder in the mud.
 Wilt thou enter thy dwelling?" he asked coldly, wondering if Joels child could be los. to her without pain
 That thou mayest slaughter my child?" Her alarm did not slip the guard of love that permitted her words. A thousand times her heart had sung my son." but that heart was not a careless girls heart no matter what Joel might believe.
 ''Michal,' he protested in her own tongue, these men will not delay for long. Thy child is only another Hebrew to them"
 CHILL she did not look at the O child, her head lifted proudly and the lie on her lips was as gra- l hnnrf xrfnr not burning with anger and fear Her words were distinct in the Roman tongue. (Surely it was for this oc- casion Adonai had willed her des- tiny with Jonathan and his Roman friends?) Precise and clear, her words carried to the Soldiery, Thou knowest our custom, how we plant cedar for son, an acacia for the birth of daughter"
 Behind juniper tree lit with white blooms, the sky was red where the sun was setting beyond the sea horizon. The captain was suddenly sickened of his charge under Herod The blood of how many lives as pure as the juniper bloom had stained the soil of Bethlehem as red as the fragrant sunset? The heat simmered against the white tree and the crimson of sunset spread like blood across the whole horizon. It flowed to the sea and stained the gray wa ters, and the captain waited now for Michal to release him from his invisible chains and let him ride o n ,x,a fvOy1a J1oa c1oYoInfaY
 Sensing that Drusus had not &C., cepted her statement for the dis missal it was meant to be, she chal- lenged all of them, laughingly A small and dusty band lifted to loose 2 curl about her right ear so that it played on her rose-tinted chceek while the tiny breeze. like careful matron, guarded against too lov- ing intimacy '"Thou knoweSt our custom, surely, yet perhaps thou desirest closer look at both tree and child. I was but planting the tree even as you node up. But come :"
 She turned at last to the child, where he sat now with his earthly garments denying his nobility, his dirty little face as lovely as his mothers, with the same golden eyes, the same proud curving of lips, ab- surd on child so young.
 He held out his arms to her, and she caught bim close against her bosom, ignoring the soil and the Romans, forgetting the acacia tree and its vital importance. Here in her arms she held her hearts treasure, Joel's baby smudged with Bethle- hem's dear earth and water.
 If they accepted her challenge she was lost, and the wild tumult within her at last broke her out ward calm. She buried her face against her bapy's neck, her curls against his fairer curls, her heart one wild cry of Joel. Joel, I need you now!"
 (TO Be COntinued)