Part 58 (2/2)

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 To furnish forth this company. She led Our march, kept us in heart, fought off despair, 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 comrades.h.i.+p! And now her voice Wakens the echoes in my lonely breast.

Shall I not see her, thank her, speak her name?

Ruahmah! Let me live till I have looked Into 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 G.o.d, never to bow!

SCENE II

TIME: _Three days later_

_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 wors.h.i.+p; 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 a.s.sured 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.

KHAMMA: What, then?

NUBTA: She will claim him as her husband. Was she not wedded to him before the G.o.d? That is a sacred bond. Only the High Priest can loose it. She will keep her hold on Naaman for the sake of the House of Rimmon. A wife knows her husband's secrets, she can tell--

[Enter SHUMAKIM, with his flagon, walking unsteadily.]

KHAMMA: Hus.h.!.+ here comes the fool Shumakim. He is never sober.

SHUMAKIM: [Laughing.]

Are there two of you? I see two, but that is no proof.

I think there is only one, but beautiful enough for two. What were you talking to yourself about, fairest one!

KHAMMA: About the lady Tsarpi, fool, and what she would do if her husband returned.

SHUMAKIM: Fie! fie! That is no talk for an innocent fool to hear.

Has she a husband?

NUBTA: You know very well that she is the wife of Lord Naaman.

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