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Title: The Lamp in the Desert

Author: Ethel M. Dell

Release Date: October 16, 2004 [eBook #13763]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAMP IN THE DESERT***

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THE LAMP IN THE DESERT

by

ETHEL M. DELL

Author of _The Way of an Eagle_, _The Knave of Diamonds_,
_The Rocks of Valpre_, _The Swindler, and Other Stories_,
_The Keeper of the Door_, _The Bars of Iron_, _The Hundredth
Chance_, _The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories_, _Greatheart_

1919

[Illustration: "He knelt beside her, his arms comfortingly around her."]

Drawn by D.C. Hutchinson

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO

MY DEARLY-LOVED

ELIZABETH

AND TO THE MEMORY OF HER GREAT GOODNESS

WHEN SHE WALKED IN THE

DESERT WITH ME

_"He led them all the night through with a light of fire."_

PSALM lxxviii, 14.

Lamps that gleam in the city,
Lamps that flare on the wall,
Lamps that shine on the ways of men,
Kindled by men are all.

But the desert of burnt-out ashes,
Which only the lost have trod,
Dark and barren and flowerless,
Is lit by the Hand of God.

To lighten the outer darkness,
To hasten the halting feet,
He lifts a lamp in the desert
Like the lamps of men in the street.

Only the wanderers know it,
The lost with those who mourn,
That lamp in the desert darkness,
And the joy that comes in the dawn.

That the lost may come into safety,
And the mourners may cease to doubt,
The Lamp of God will be shining still
When the lamps of men go out.

CHAPTER

PART I

I.--BEGGAR'S CHOICE
II.--THE PRISONER AT THE BAR
III.--THE TRIUMPH
IV.--THE BRIDE
V.--THE DREAM
VI.--THE GARDEN
VII.--THE SERPENT IN THE GARDEN
VIII.--THE FORBIDDEN PARADISE

PART II

I.--THE MINISTERING ANGEL
II.--THE RETURN
III.--THE BARREN SOIL
IV.--THE SUMMONS
V.--THE MORNING
VI.--THE NI