So have no fear, we shall not want; nor indeed would the Essenes suffer such a thing.

Now, child, you are weary; go to rest and dream that you have your lover back again." It was with a heavy heart that Caleb, defeated and shamed, shook the dust of the village of the Essenes off his feet.

At dawn on the morning after the night that he had fought the duel with Marcus, he also might have been seen, a staff in his bandaged hand and a bag of provisions over his shoulder, standing upon the little ridge and gazing towards the house which sheltered Miriam.

In love and war things had gone ill with him, so ill that at the thought of his discomfiture he ground his teeth.
Miriam cared nothing for him; Marcus had defeated him at the first encounter and given him his life; while, worst of all, these two from whom he had endured so much loved each other.

Few, perhaps, have suffered more sharply than he suffered in that hour; for what agonies are there like those of disappointed love and the shame of defeat when endured in youth?
With time most men grow accustomed to disaster and rebuff.