"No use!" he said. "You could change a very devil more easily than you can change David now! He's too proud to change his mind."
"Oh," sobbed the girl softly, "I hate him! I hate him!"
"Let Timeh live until the morning," said David in the same calm voice. "Let Juri be spared this night of grief and uneasiness. If it is done in the morning she will be less anxious until the dark comes, and by that time the edge of her sorrow shall be dulled."
"Whose hand," asked Elijah faintly—"whose hand must strike the blow?"
"Yesterday," said David, "you spoke to me a great deal of the laws of the Garden and their breaking. Do you not know that law which says that he from whose household the faulty mare foal has come must destroy it? You know that law. Then let it not be said that Elijah, who so loves the law, has shirked his lawful burden!"
At this final blow poor Elijah lifted his face.
"Lord God!" he said, "give me strength. It is more than I can bear!"
"Go!" commanded the master of the Garden.
Elijah turned slowly away. As if to show the way, Timeh galloped before him.