gleamed through it.

"When they came opposite to where I stood, these two stopped for a while,
being in nowise shadowy, as I have heard men say ghosts are, but clear
and distinct. They stopped close by me, as I stood motionless, unable to
pray; they turned to each other, face to face, and the maiden said,
'Love, for this our last true meeting before the end of all, we need a
witness; let this man, softened by sorrow, even as we are, go with us.'

"I never heard such music as her words were; though I used to wonder when
I was young whether the angels in heaven sung better than the choiresters
sang in our church, and though, even then the sound of the triumphant
hymn came up to me in a breath of wind, and floated round me, making
dreams, in that moment of awe and great dread, of the old long-past days
in that old church, of her who lay under the pavement of it; whose sweet
voice once, once long ago, once only to me--yet I shall see her again."
He became silent as he said this, and no man cared to break in upon his
thoughts, seeing the choking movement in his throat, the fierce clenching
of hand and foot, the stiffening of the muscles all over him; but soon,
with an upward jerk of his head, he threw back the long elf locks that
had fallen over his eyes while his head was bent down, and went on as
before:

"The knight passed his hand across his brow, as if to clear away some
mist that had gathered there, and said, in a deep murmurous voice, 'Why
the last time, dearest, why the last time? Know you not how long a time
remains yet? the old man came last night to the ivory house and told me
it would be a hundred years, ay, more, before the happy end.' 'So long,'
she said; 'so long: ah! love, what things words are; yet this is the last
time; alas! alas! for the weary years! my words, my sin!' 'O love, it is