then came back and ushered in Eva. They stood together by the couch of
Tancred. The expression of distress, of suffering, of extreme tension,
which had not marred, but which, at least, had mingled with the
spiritual character of his countenance the previous day, had
disappeared. If it were death, it was at least beautiful. Softness and
repose suffused his features, and his brow looked as if it had been the
temple of an immortal spirit.

Eva gazed upon the form with a fond, deep melancholy; Fakredeen and
Baroni exchanged glances. Suddenly Tancred moved, heaved a deep sigh,
and opened his dark eyes. The unnatural fire which had yesterday lit
them up had fled. Calmly and thoughtfully he surveyed those around him,
and then he said, 'The Lady of Bethany!'

CHAPTER XXXVI.

_The Angel's Message_

BETWEEN the Egyptian and the Arabian deserts, formed by two gulfs of the
Erythraean Sea, is a peninsula of granite mountains. It seems as if an
ocean of lava, when its waves were literally running mountains high, had
been suddenly commanded to stand still. These successive summits, with
their peaks and pinnacles, enclose a series of valleys, in general stern
and savage, yet some of which are not devoid of pastoral beauty. There
may be found brooks of silver brightness, and occasionally groves of
palms and gardens of dates, while the neighbouring heights command
sublime landscapes, the opposing mountains of Asia and Afric, and the
blue bosom of two seas. On one of these elevations, more than five
thousand feet above the ocean, is a convent; again, nearly three
thousand feet above this convent, is a towering peak, and this is Mount
Sinai.

On the top of Mount Sinai are two ruins, a Christian church and a
Mahometan mosque. In this, the sublimest scene of Arabian glory, Israel
and Ishmael alike raised their altars to the great God of Abraham.

Why are they in ruins? Is it that human structures are not to be endured
amid the awful temples of nature and revelation; and that the column and
the cupola crumble into nothingness in sight of the hallowed Horeb and
on the soil of the eternal Sinai?

Ascending the mountain, about half way between the convent and the
utmost height of the towering peak, is a small plain surrounded by
rocks. In its centre are a cypress tree and a fountain. This is the
traditional scene of the greatest event of time.

Tis night; a solitary pilgrim, long kneeling on the sacred soil, slowly
raises hi