“It is a marvel!” said Marcius with earnestness. “Blessed be the hour when first I beheld him! Behold how great good cometh out of evil! The sinking of the Salapiæ hath yielded a great blessing to Tarsus.”
“My life in the Holy City and since hath persuaded me that infinite forces work with us when we work through them,” said Rebecca with enthusiasm. “Nothing is trifling, and nothing unimportant.”
Marcius felt that the moment had arrived toward which he had so long looked forward as the most eventful of his life.
“O Rebecca!” said he in a low, tender tone, as his eyes glanced upon her fair face, “I am minded of another great blessing to me which hath grown out of evil!”
The living emphasis of the soft, earnest words seemed peculiar, and Rebecca looked up inquiringly, as if to divine their interpretation.
“Behold the day of the tumult, when thou wert hard pressed by the rabble! What a wicked offence, and yet from it hath come to me a revelation of thy beautiful soul.”
Rebecca was startled, for there was an intensity behind the words which swept her spirit into unwonted vibration.
“O Rebecca! I would more fully unveil my heart to thee! Blessed be the day when for the first time I be[pg 438]held thy sweet face, and thrice blessed the time in which I have felt thy goodness and purity! I love thee! Thy father hath graciously yielded me permission to make my love known to thee. Oh, wilt thou not be the soul of my soul? The New Faith will consecrate our love, and make us one in the bonds of a union that shall be unending. Should there be no certain response in thy heart at this hour, I will not press thee for an answer now. But thou art the pure shrine at which my devotion will glow with an unending ardor!”
While the calm dignity of Rebecca did not forsake her the beautiful cheeks took on a ruddier shade, and her large, radiant eyes were downcast and bedewed.
Then, looking steadily into his manly face, she replied softly,—