lation is ceased! There is no
Offering for the Altar; none is left to offer it!"

The vast gathering heard it, and immediately from the high place of
the prophetess came back the words, prompt and effective:

"_And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the
midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to
cease!_"

Posthumus, buried in the midst of the crowd, was shouting, but over
him the splendid mesmerism of the prophetess' voice soared.

"_The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children; they
were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people ...
The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of
Zion; ... and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it
desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be
poured upon the desolate_!"

Among the crowd now growing frantic, people began to cry:

"A sign! A sign!"

Others shouted:

"Lead us!"

"Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the Heaven of the
Lord!"

"Lead us!" they still shouted.

They were hungry; they had been abstinent; they had surrendered their
riches and their comforts. It was not independence but necessities
that they wanted now. The primal wants were at the surface.

"Come up and be filled!" she cried. "Ask and it shall be given unto
you! Eat of the grapes and the honey; drink of wine and warm milk;
sleep as kings; be housed in mansions; be rulers; command potentates!
Let kings bow at your footstools! Be replenished; be great! Suffering
hath been your portion since the earth was; but the end is come. Draw
nigh and have your recompense. Laugh, you whose eyes have trickled
down with the waters of affliction! You in the low dungeon come forth
and range all the free boundaries of the world. Whosoever hath gravel
between his teeth, let them be grapes! He who sitteth alone, gather
company and revel unto him! Feast, ye hungry; be drunken, ye thirsty;
love and be loved, ye forlorn!"

Laodice leaned forward suddenly and hung on the woman's words.

"The time for sacrifice and humiliation is paid out! It was a long
time! Now, behold in the generosity of his repentance, ye shall ask
and nothing shall be denied. Speak! Ask! The whole world, Heaven and
earth and the delights of all the years are yours, now and for all
time!"

At Laodice's side was Amaryllis. The Greek's face was pale but lighted
with a certain enlightenment that was al