"It isn't a stone," said the Lad, "it is a diamond."

And he presented to the King a diamond of such triumphant brilliance
that it might have been conceived of the ambitions of the mightiest
monarch of the earth.

"You now own surpassing wealth," said the Lad dejectedly, "and you
have no more need to work."

But William would not even touch the stone. "Keep it," he said, "for
you have befriended me for a week, and I have given you only the
strength of my arms."

"Let it be so," said the Lad gently, and put the diamond in his
belt. "I must not keep my Great-Aunt waiting. There's a cake in the
larder."

So saying he went his way, and the King went his; which, as you may
surmise, was to the bath and his clean clothes. He did not go into
the larder, and an hour before sunset made the ascent of the hill,
and for the third time stood like a conqueror upon the crest. And as
he gazed over the lands below his heart throbbed with a passion for
the earth that was half agony and half love, unless indeed it was
the whole agony of love.

"Most beautiful earth!" he cried aloud, "only as you recede from me
do I realize how necessary it is for me to possess you. How is it
that when I possess you I know you not as I know you now? But oh! if
you are so wonderful from these great hills, what must you be from
the greater hills of air?" And he looked up, and saw the sun