month before, and it was not the season for stags to bray; and those,
as you know, are the principal sounds that we hear at night.

We stood a long time listening to the silence. I knew well what was in
my heart, and I knew presently what was in his. He was thinking on his
soul.

He turned to me after a while, and I could see the clear pallour of his
face and the line of his lips and eyes all set in his heavy hair.

"Do you know the tale of the Persian king, Sir John?"

I told him No; he had many of such tales. I do not know where he had
read them.

"There was once a king who had the open eyes, and he looked into heaven
and hell. He saw there two friends whom he had known in the flesh; the
one was a hermit, and the other another king. The hermit was in hell,
and the king in heaven. When he asked the reason of this, one told him
that the hermit was in hell because of his consorting with the king, and
the king in heaven because of his consorting with the hermit."

I understood him, but I said nothing.

"Pray for me then, Sir John," said Master Richard.

Then we kissed one another, and he was gone without another word along
the white road.