Then she turned to my son, and congratulated him upon his wonderful escape and upon having found a father if he had lost a wife.
"Truly," she added, "you are a fortunate man to be so well loved, O son of Adams.

To how many sons are given fathers who for fourteen long years, abandoning all else, would search for them in peril of their lives, enduring slavery and blows and starvation and the desert's heat and cold for the sake of a long-lost face?
Such faithfulness is that of my forefather David for his brother Jonathan, and such love it is that passes the love of women.

See that you pay it back to him, and to his memory until the last hour of your life, child of Adams." "I will, indeed, I will, O Walda Nagasta," answered Roderick, and throwing his arms about my neck he embraced me before them all.

It is not too much to say that this kiss of filial devotion more than repaid me for all I had undergone for his beloved sake.

For now I knew that I had not toiled and suffered for one of no worth, as is so often the lot of true hearts in this bitter world.
Just then some of Maqueda's ladies brought food, and at her bidding we breakfasted.
"Be sparing," she said with a melancholy little laugh, "for I know not how long our store will last.