Page:Between the twilights being studies of Indian women by one of themselves (IA betweentwilights00soraiala).pdf/206

186 . But she heeded them not, her mind being full of the so-soon purchase of sanctity. … And it came to pass that a few miles from Mecca the dog fell ill, and she said within herself, “I cannot leave it behind. I must needs stay and tend it.” So, albeit with a sigh, for Mecca was almost in sight, and she had longed so great a while to be holy even as those other women by whom she was shunned, she turned away from the path in search of water. But it was a place of sand, and it was long before she found a well, and then she had perforce to make a rope of her hair and a bucket of her clothes to draw water for the poor beast … and, in tending him, day changed into night, but she heeded not—her whole soul in the desire that he might live.

And when the pilgrims reached the Holy City, and were preparing for the evening prayer, a voice forbade the recital. … “This,” said the Voice, “is not the place where God is to be found; go back to where she whom you deem evil tends a fellow life, for there to-day dwells God Himself.”

Faith is naturally a large factor in the