"And come with me, Balkis, to where the watchmen are, and I will show you marvels such as you never saw before: an altar of gold and a table of gold and ten candlesticks of pure gold with the flowers and the lamps and the tongs of gold; and bowls and snuffers and basins and the spoons and the censers of pure gold. Come." They went toward the king's house. On the way Solomon stopped suddenly and looked at his temple. "O Balkis," he asked, "you have come through Egypt. How much bigger is my temple than the pyramids and labyrinth? I 've heard so much of them." "Bigger?" "Yes, how much bigger?" She looked at the little building, twenty cubits broad, sixty cubits long. Twelve paces one way, forty another. For an instant laughter bubbled in her, but gave way to pathos, and her sloe-black eyes were wet again. O poor lad! "Is it very much bigger than the pyramids, Balkis?" he asked eagerly. "Oh, lots bigger. Much." "Why, Balkis, you are crying. Are you lonely?" "Yes, a little homesick," she lied again. He came toward her and kissed her, in kindness, but the touch of lips fired, startled them both, sent their blood pounding in the soft Syrian gloom. "O Balkis!" his voice trembled. "O Balkis!" "Solomon!" she uttered softly. "Dear Solomon!" VI Around the king's house the little winds of springtime hovered, the little moon of May was in the air. Came the rustle of the grasses, and the minor of the frogs, and the barking of cub foxes. All the constellations hung in a cloud and the sickled moon was in the west--stars and moon and purple night sky, like some rude mosaic. And from the king's room came the pale gold of candles and the murmur of voices in exaltation. And beneath the king's casement Nathan writhed in fear and anger and pain. "O Balkis," came Solomon's voice, "you are wonderful. You are like a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots. "Your cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, your neck with chains of gold." "O Solomon," her voice half whispered, half chanted, "a bundle of myrrh are you unto me. My well beloved! He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts. "My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engadi." "Balkis, you are fair, my beloved; behold, you are fair, you have dove's eyes ... fair, yea, pleasant...." "As the apple-trees among the trees of the wood, Solomon, so are you among the sons of man. I sat down under your shadow with great delight, and your fruit was sweet to my taste. O dear Solomon, your eyes are closing. You are drowsy. Sleep, heart. O ye daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please." "I am not sleepy, Balkis; I am only thinking. O beloved, if we could only go away from here. Go away together--rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. "For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;