“How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy
love than wine! and the smell of thy ointments than all spices!
“Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are
under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of
Lebanon.
“A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a
fountain sealed.
“Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits;
camphire, with spikenard.
“Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of
frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.
“A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and streams from
Lebanon.
“Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden,
that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his
garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.”
Nan was not able to speak; she had listened with indrawn breath, and her
hand had flown upwards to her heart.
“I don’t like that—sugar!” said Silas resentfully. “You liked it, I
expect? This suits me better,—
“I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning
ague, that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart: and ye
shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
“And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before
your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall
flee when none pursueth you.
“And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your
heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
“And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not
yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their
fruits.
“I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your
children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and
your highways shall be desolate....
“And upon them that are left alive of you, I will send a faintness
into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a
shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a
sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.”
Nan had not listened; the music of that other verse was running in her
drunken head, “Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon; myrrh and
aloes, with all the chief spices....”
“Half of the Bible should be printed in blood,” said Silas, meditating
the fulminations, “and read with a spear in the hand.—But it’s a trick,
a trick!” he said, instantly checking his enthusiasm, with the mocking
twist on his mouth, “I do the trick myself, sometimes, to demolish it,”
and turning over the pages of Leviticus, he came across a sheet covered
with his own handwriting, which he gave to Nan. “Read it aloud.”