King David's time! To be sure, one
reads of it in--in what's a bloodthirsty
Chapter of the Old Testament! And she
saved the town by ordering the death of
a rebel, a traitor, proclaiming that she,
herself, was loyal and faithful to the
king--so were her people--making
Joab, David's captain, that man with
the knife, outside the wall, listen when
she cried to him: 'Hear! Hear!' She
had more sense than the men about her--and
one isn't told the least thing
further about her, not even her name.
That's what makes her mysterious--and
fascinating.... Yet she saved a city!"

The girl drew a long breath--a suddenly
fired breath.

Was it up to her now to save a city:
the citadel of her father's courage--of
that rose-colored conviction which is half
the battle on earth or in the air? How
was she to do it?

Her eye went wandering around the
room. Trained to the eloquence of sym-*
[[53]]

p052 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p053w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p054

v?