"And he put his hands on two of the pillars of the scaffolding, and listened to the workmen above, and then called out: 'O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my eyes.' "And he took hold of the two middle pillars of the scaffolding--" "Oh!" Delilah's voice came in a long moan. "Oh! my poor love! my poor lord! oh! ... The workmen," she asked, "were they--killed?" "One was lamed and one bruised and one had a shoulder smashed, but only Samson, Delilah, is dead." "Samson is dead!" she said dully. And then she quickened. "Are you sure that he isn't only stunned?" "No, Delilah; Samson is dead." "I shall go with you...." They had taken him into a cool corner of the temple, and when she saw him there was no longer doubt in her, or--or hope. He lay there with a great dignity, a new majesty, all the pain and baffledness had gone from his face and the poor empty eyes were closed.... And she sank to her knees, and took his head on them, she saw with a little glad wringing of the heart that once more the great golden cloak of hair had grown ... "Delilah, where is he to--stay?" The captain of the guards leaned toward her. "Not with us, kinsman. He might n't rest. He will sleep with his own." "Then shall I tell his brethren, and the house of his father to come?" "Do, kinsman," she said. She turned her head to the shadows. "Tell them to come and take him," she said. She was like a woman in stone but for her strained voice, and for the fingers twisting, twisting, twisting under the red-gold cloak of hair. "Go now and tell them," she said. "Tell them, but don't let them come," she said, "for--for just a little while...." And now night had come, and the little lamps of Gaza burned clear in the blue softness. The sun had gone down in the west, and the silver blade of the moon had all but followed. Delilah felt cold and stiff, and there were tears in her heart that would not come to her eyes for relief. The heaviness of an old sorrow, it never went, and she did n't know if she wanted it to go.... She rose to go within. "Delilah, the great harlot," a raucous voice accused her from the blackness of the street. "She enticed our lord Samson and made him sleep on her knees--and she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death--" She stopped and listened. Venom was sprayed against her from the street. Hatred arose like a pillar. Suddenly the tears came, the welcome tears, and gratitude went in a white shaft from her to the bitter men in the streets, for this: that after so many years great Samson was not forgotten, that he lived in their mind and hearts still, as in hers. A QUATRAIN OF LING TAI FU'S