that animated his eyes and
gave an occasional silent action to his lips. One thought especially
occupied him.

"Seest thou, Mirah," he said once, after a long silence, "the _Shemah_,
wherein we briefly confess the divine Unity, is the chief devotional
exercise of the Hebrew; and this made our religion the fundamental
religion for the whole world; for the divine Unity embraced as its
consequence the ultimate unity of mankind. See, then--the nation which
has been scoffed at for its separateness, has given a binding theory to
the human race. Now, in complete unity a part possesses the whole as
the whole possesses every part: and in this way human life is tending
toward the image of the Supreme Unity: for as our life becomes more
spiritual by capacity of thought, and joy therein, possession tends to
become more universal, being independent of gross material contact; so
that in a brief day the soul of man may know in fuller volume the good
which has been and is, nay, is to come, than all he could possess in a
whole life where he had to follow the creeping paths of the senses. In
this moment, my sister, I hold the joy of another's future within me: a
future which these eyes will not see, and which my spirit may not then
recognize as mine. I recognize it now, and love it so, that I can lay
down this poor life upon its altar and say: 'Burn, burn indiscernibly
into that which shall be, which is my love and not me.' Dost thou
understand, Mirah?"

"A little," said Mirah, faintly, "but my mind is too poor to have felt
it."

"And yet," said Mordecai, rather insistently, "women are specially
framed for the love which feels possession in renouncing, and is thus a
fit image of what I mean. Somewhere in the later _Midrash_, I think, is
the story of a Jewish maiden who loved a Gentile king so well, that
this was what she did:--she entered into prison and changed clothes
with the woman who was beloved by the king, that she might deliver that
woman from death by dying in her stead, and leave the king to be happy
in his love which was not for her. This is the surpassing love, that
loses self in the object of love."

"No, Ezra, no," said Mirah, with low-toned intensity, "that was not it.
She wanted the king when she was dead to know what she had done, and
feel that she was better than the other. It was her strong self,
wanting to conquer, that made her die."

Mordecai was silent a little, and then argued--

"That might be, Mirah. Bu