For a moment the great man stood still, then he opened his arms wide and
of a sudden plunged downward, falling with a crash on the roadway, where
he lay dead at the side of dead Elissa.
*****
"The play is played, and the fate fulfilled," cried Metem. "See, the
servants of the king speed yonder with their evil tidings; let us away
lest we bide here with these two for ever."
"That is my desire," said Aziel.
"A desire which may not be fulfilled," answered Metem. "Come, Prince,
since we cannot go without you. Surely you do not wish to sacrifice the
lives of all of us as an offering to the great spirit of the lady who is
dead. It is one that she would not seek."
Then Aziel knelt down and kissed the brow of the dead Elissa, and went
his way, saying no word.
*****
That night, when the darkness fell, the sky behind these travellers grew
red with fire.
"Behold the end of the golden city!" said Metem. "Zimboe is food for
flames and its children for the sword. Issachar was a prophet indeed,
who foretold that it should be so."
Aziel bowed his head, remembering that Issachar had foretold also that
for Elissa and for him there was hope beyond the grave. As he thought
it, a wind beat upon his brow and through it a soft voice seemed to
murmur to his heart:--
"Be of good courage: Beloved, _there is hope_."
*****
So, turning from the death behind him, this far away forgotten lover
set his face to the sea of Life and passed it, and long ago, at his
appointed hour, gained its further shore, to be welcomed there by her
who watched for him.
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