Page:Between the twilights being studies of Indian women by one of themselves (IA betweentwilights00soraiala).pdf/211

Rh stone in the City of Cities. … “God so loved the World.” …

The Priest is passing the shell-lamp over the foot itself, in the circles of some ritual, and the leper bends forward out of the darkness to see the sacred markings. … Oh! the horror of the ravages of the flesh! … “God so loved the World.” …

The Priest sprinkles the foot with holy water, spooning it out of his copper vessel with practised hand, and the perambulating Priest redoubles his mantras. … The face of the leper is a-quiver with peace, and with a joy that is without dissimulation. … “God so loved the World.” …

The pooja is over, the officiating Priest has pressed the little cotton wicks into darkness. The leper makes her timid way out of the Temple, ringing the great bell in the cloisters, as she returns to her pilgrimage of pain in a world of illusions. … “God so loved the World,” … and it was the leper in the Temple of the Foot who first gave me a glint of the probable meaning of these glad tidings.