“Nay, it is a fixed window. But around the corner is a door. It leads directly into the room where I sleep with my sister. But thou hast promised me!... My sister sleeps lightly. O, how fair art thou, my beloved! Truly, hast thou not promised?”
Solomon quietly smoothes her hair and cheeks.
“I shall come to thee this night,” he says insistently. “At midnight I shall come. Thus, thus shall it be. I desire it.”
“Beloved!”
“Nay. Thou shalt await me. But have no fear, and put thy trust in me. I shall cause thee no grief. I shall give thee such joy compared with which all things upon earth are without significance. Now farewell. I hear them coming after me.”
“Farewell, my beloved ... O, nay, go not yet! Tell me thy name,—I know it not.”
For a moment, as though undecided, he lowers his lashes, but immediately raises them again.
“The King and I have the same name. I am called Solomon. Farewell. I love thee.”
V.
