Yet how could that be, since she could never by any possibility have heard my name before?
The beautiful Almah seemed to be not altogether happy, or why should she be so quick to sadness?
There was a mystery about all this which was quite unaccountable.
It was a singular situation, and one which excited within me feelings of unutterable delight.

This light and splendor, this warmth and peace--what a contrast it offered to the scenes through which I had but lately passed! Those scenes of horror, of ice and snow, of storm and tempest, of cold and hunger, of riven cliff and furious ocean stream, and, above all, that crowning agony in the bleak iron-land of the cannibals--from all these I had escaped.

I had been drawn down under the earth to experience the terrors of that unspeakable passage, and had at last emerged to light and life, to joy and hope.

In this grotto I had found the culmination of all happiness.

It was like a fairy realm; and here was one whose very look was enough to inspire the most despairing soul with hope and peace and happiness.