That night sleep forsook his eyelids, and his mouth was parched and
his spirit bitter. And sometimes he reproached himself with a thousand
offences, and sometimes he searched the Scriptures, that he might
persuade himself that he had walked blameless before the Lord in the
ordinances and commandments of God.

Meantime, Ruth, in her solitude, remembered that it was now three years
since she had been married to Israel, and that by the laws, both of
their race and their country, a woman who had been long barren might
straightway be divorced by her husband.

Next morning a message of business came from the Khaleefa, but Israel
would not answer it. Then came an order to him from the Governor, but
still he paid no heed. At length he heard a feeble knock at the door of
his room. It was Ruth, his wife, and he opened to her and she entered.

"Send me away from you!" she cried. "Send me away!"

"Not for the place of the Kaid," he answered stoutly; "no, nor the
throne of the Sultan!"

At that she fell on his neck and kissed him, and they mingled their
tears together. But he comforted her at length, and said, "Look up, my
dearest! look up! I am a proud man among men, but it is even as the Lord
may deal with me. And which of us shall murmur against God?"

At that word Ruth lifted her head from his bosom and her eyes were full
of a sudden thought.

"Then let us ask of the Lord," she whispered hotly, "and surely He will