"O Masa, my white dove, how pale you are! Yet your eyes are bright— let me kiss them. And with this kiss I swear I will love you eternally! And now kiss me, too, and let this kiss be the vow of your eternal love for me!"
She kissed him passionately. "I love you, Mohammed, and you alone will I love on earth!"
He looks at her tenderly, and shudders, for her countenance is still deathly pale.
"I can no longer look upon your dear face, I cannot!" he cries, in tones of anguish. "I have a dread foreboding that I see you for the last time. Farewell, Masa, farewell! Pray for me, and for yourself, and for our love. Farewell, sweet being, my white dove, farewell!"
He folds her to his heart once more, and then away, away out into the night. He still hears behind him the tones of the sweet voice crying, "Farewell, farewell!"
Then all is still, and he rushes on through the darkness toward the stairway in the rock.