“Dost thou observe how the prospect fades away south of it, until it reaches the spreading desert?”
“Yes, I perceive!”
“Turn to the north, what object is most striking?”
“Oh, Hermon! ‘The old-man mountain;’ the sun makes its snowy-top appear to-day very like the white on an old man’s head and chin.”
Sir Charleroy’s attention was recalled from his contemplation of the pain of parting for an instant, and he questioned:
“Canst thou see aught of the ruins of the ‘Temple of the Sun,’ said to be at Hermon’s crest?”
But before an answer could be given to the knight’s question, Father Adolphus exclaimed: “Daughter, look back again to ruined Salchad! Beyond its ‘war tower of giants,’ there lies only the desert. Now turn thy back on it all forever, without repinings. Leave the desert and the war tower of the giants to the wandering Bedouin.”
“And then what?”
“Turn thy face toward Jerusalem, thy back to the drear desert—”