in the cavern of the red pike? for I say to you that, faithful or not, I
doubt your courage.' But she was startled when she saw him, and how the
fiery blood rushed up to his forehead, then sank to his heart again, and
his face became as pale as the face of a dead man; he looked at her and
said, 'Yes, Ella, I will go now; for what matter where I go?' He turned
and moved toward the door; he was almost gone, when that evil spirit left
her, and she cried out aloud, passionately, eagerly: 'Lawrence, Lawrence,
come back once more, if only to strike me dead with your knightly sword.'
He hesitated, wavered, turned, and in another moment she was lying in his
arms weeping into his hair.

"'And yet, Ella, the spoken word, the thought of our hearts cannot be
recalled, I must go, and go this night too, only promise one thing.'
'Dearest, what? you are always right!' 'Love, you must promise that if I
come not again by to-morrow at moonrise, you will go to the red pike,
and, having entered the cavern, go where God leads you, and seek me, and
never leave that quest, even if it end not but with death.' 'Lawrence,
how your heart beats! poor heart! are you afraid that I shall hesitate to
promise to perform that which is the only thing I could do? I know I am
not worthy to be with you, yet I must be with you in body or soul, or
body and soul will die.' They sat silent, and the birds sang in the
garden of lilies beyond; then said Ella again: 'Moreover, let us pray God
to give us longer life, so that if our natural lives are short for the
accomplishment of this quest, we may have more, yea, even many more
lives.' 'He will, my Ella,' said Lawrence, 'and I think, nay, am sure
that our wish will be granted; and I, too, will add a prayer, but will
ask it very humbly, namely, that he will give me another chance or more
to fight in His cause, another life to live instead of this failure.'
'Let us pray too that we may meet, however long the time be before our
meeting,' she said; so they knelt down and prayed, hand fast locked in