flee me once again. Rachel--" his voice sobered and his face
grew serious--"Rachel, wilt thou wed me this day?"

"If it were only 'aye' or 'nay' to be said, I should have said it long
ago," she answered with averted eyes, "but there are many things that
thou shouldst know, Kenkenes, before thou demandest the answer from me."

"Name them, Rachel," he said submissively; "but let me say this first.
Mine eyes are not mystic but most truthfully can I tell this moment,
which of us twain will rule over my tent."

"And thou art ready for the tent and shepherd life of Israel?" she
asked gravely, but before he could answer she went on.

"Hear me first. So tender hast thou been of me; so much hast thou
sacrificed for my sake that it were unkind to bind thee to me in the
life-long sacrifice and life-long hardships that I may know. Thine
enemy and mine is dead, and Egypt rid of him. There is much in Egypt
to prosper thee; there, thy state is high; there, thou hast opportunity
and wealth. Israel can offer thee God and me. Even the faith thou
couldst keep in Egypt, so thou wert watchful. And further, thou art
the murket's son, and building takes the place of carving for thee,
now. But, here, O Kenkenes, thou must lay thy chisel down for ever,
for the faith of the multitude, so newly weaned from idolatry, is too
feeble to be tried with the sight of images."

Kenkenes heard her with a passive countenance. She gave him news,
indeed--facts of a troublous nature, but he held his peace and let her
proceed.

"And this, yet further. Once in that time when I was a slave and thou
my master and loved me not--"

His dark eyes reproached her.

"Didst love me, then, of a truth? But it matters not--and yet"--coming
closer to him, "it matters much! In that time ere thou hadst told me
so, we talked of Canaan, thou and I. I boasted of it, being but newly
filled with it and freshly come from Caleb who taught us. Then, Israel
was enslaved and not yet so vastly helped by Jehovah. But alas! I have
seen Israel freed, and attended by its God, and by the tokens of its
conduct, Israel is far, far from Canaan. I am of Israel and whosoever
weds with me, will be of Israel likewise. It may not be that I shall
escape my people's sorrows. Shall I bring them upon thy head, also, my
Kenkenes?"

After a little he answered, sighing.

"Thou dost not love me, Rachel."

"Kenkenes!"

"Aye, I have said. Thou wouldst send me away from thee, b