for a moment, nor that one day, it might be in the far distant future, his message would ring throughout England and find an echo in thousands of noble hearts, filled, like his own, with the spirit of self-sacrifice and love for their weak brethren--a love which should make some strong ones ready to renounce for themselves even the good creatures of God, might they by so doing remove a stumbling-block from some erring brother's path. Meanwhile, whether his message were received in love or in derision, he continued to utter it faithfully, ever cheered by the growing support of a chosen few among his parishioners, his "League of the Holy Cross," who were ready to labour with him to the death, and above all, by the loving friendship and faithful love of the fair young mistress of the doomed castle, who, in her anxious solitude, cheered only by the companionship of Lady Rosamond and her little son Elidore, and by the devotion of her aged foster-father, followed his every footstep with her prayers, and entered into his labours with a zeal and devotion which ever inspired him to fresh effort. And ever and anon some shepherd on the solitary hillside would tell how he had seen the faithful lovers wandering over hill and dale together on their mutual errands of mercy, and the tale of many a hidden deed of charity would be whispered from one lonely cot to another, wherein the footsteps of the beautiful Lady Shanno, whose golden locks were so strangely strewn with silver, and those of her holy knight, Sir Galahad, were blessed as the footsteps of angels, and their faces welcomed as those of bright visitants from another world. And there were some who said, that as these holy friends crossed the lonely hilltops together, the shadow of the cross might at times be seen falling athwart their path as they walked, and more than one honest countryman would vouch for the truth of this tale, and testify that his own eyes had witnessed the strange sight. CHAPTER XXXVI. THE CURSE UNDONE. "So, let him wait God's instant, men call years; Meantime hold hard by truth and his great soul, Do out the duty! Through such souls alone God, stooping, shows sufficient of His light For us i' the dark to rise by. And I rise." --ROBERT BROWNING. "The castle gate stands open now, And the wanderer is welcome to the hall." --JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.