"Helena! Helena!" cried Gordon, and in the tempest of his love and the overwhelming sense of boundless relief he flung his arms about her and covered her face with kisses.
One long moment of immeasurable joy they were permitted to know, and then the hand of fate snatched at them again.
From their intoxicating happiness they were awakened by a voice. It was only the voice of the muezzin calling to mid-day prayers, but it seemed to be reproaching them, separating them, tearing them asunder, reminding them of where they were now, and what they were, and that God was over them.
Music fragment
Their lips parted, their arms fell away from each other, and irresistibly, simultaneously, as if by an impulse of the same heart, they dropped to their knees to pray for pardon.
The voice of the muezzin ceased, and in the silence of the following moment they heard a soft footstep coming behind.
It was Ishmael. He did not speak to either of them, but seeing them on their knees, at the hour of mid-day prayers, he stepped up and knelt between.
CHAPTER XXII
When Gordon had time to examine the new situation in which he found himself he saw that he was now in a worse case than before.