Star over Bethlehem by Agatha Christie Page B

coming back again …”
    But it was not the strangers … She could see now that it was not the handsome carved boat of the strangers. This was a rough fishing boat—the kind of boat that had been familiar to her all her life …
    And then she knew—quite certainly … It was his boat and he had come for her at last …
    And now she ran, slipping and stumbling over the rough stones of the beach. And as she reached the water’s edge, half sobbing and half panting, she saw one of the three men step out of the boat onto the sea and walk along the moonlit path towards her.
    Nearer and nearer he came … and then—and then … she was clasped in his arms … Words poured from her, incoherently, trying to tell so much.
    â€œI have done as you asked me—I have looked after John—He has been as a son to me. I am not clever—I cannot always understand his high thoughts and his visions, but I have made him good food, and washed his feet, and tended him and loved him … I have been his mother and he has been my son …?”
    She looked anxiously up into his face, asking him a question.
    â€œYou have done all I asked you,” he said gently. “Now—you are coming home with me.”
    â€œBut how shall I get to the boat?”
    â€œWe will walk together on the water.”
    She peered out to sea.
    â€œAre those—yes, they are—Simon and Andrew, are they not?”
    â€œYes, they wanted to come.”
    â€œHow happy—Oh! how happy we are going to be,” cried Mary. “Do you remember the day of the marriage in Cana …?”
    And so, walking together on the water, she poured out to her son all the little events and happenings of her life, and even how two strangers had come that very day looking for the “Queen of Heaven.” And how ridiculous it was!
    â€œThey were quite right,” said her Son. “The Queen of Heaven was here on the island, but they did not know her when they saw her …”
    And he looked into the worn, ravaged, beautiful face of his mother, and repeated softly:
    â€œNo, they did not know her when they saw her!”
    In the morning, John awoke and rose from the ground.
    It was the Lord’s Day, and at once he knew that this was to be the great day of his life!
    The Spirit rushed into him …
    He took up his pen and wrote:
    I saw a new heaven and a new earth … And behind me I heard a great voice as of a trumpet … Saying:

    I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last … I am he that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death … Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be …

A Masque from Italy

    Â 
THE PLAYERS
PUNCHINELLO
HARLEQUIN
PIERROT
PULCINELLA
COLUMBINE
PIERRETTE
THE COMEDY OF THE ARTS
    PROLOGUE: SUNG BY COLUMBINE
    HARLEQUIN’S SONG
    PIERROT’S SONG TO THE MOON
    PIERRETTE DANCING ON THE GREEN
    COLUMBINE’S SONG
    PULCINELLA
    THE SONG OF PIERROT BY THE HEARTH
    THE LAST SONG OF COLUMBINE
    PIERROT GROWN OLD
    EPILOGUE: SPOKEN BY PUNCHINELLO

    Â 
PROLOGUE: SUNG BY COLUMBINE
    H IGH on the hills and over the plains,
    A thousand years ago,
    Hand in hand, and side by side,
    Here with a skip, and there with a glide,
    Together we went the wide world through,
    A thousand years ago.
    Invisible spirits throughout the land,
    Side by side, and hand in hand,
    Harlequin and Columbine
    A thousand years ago!

    Â 
HARLEQUIN’S SONG
    I PASS
    Where’er I’ve a mind,
    With a laugh as I dance,
    And a leap so high,
    With a lightning glance,
    And a crash and a flash
    In the summer sky!
    I come in the wind,
    And I go with a sigh …
    And nobody ever sees Harlequin,
    Happy-go-lucky Harlequin,
    Go by …
    (But never again with Columbine,
    Never again with you.
    Side by side, and hand in hand,
    We wandered the wide world through!
    And