And when at last he came in, later than usual and smothered in snow, his face was all aglow, with the whipping of the wind may be, and the diamond windows hid their sparkles at sight of his eyes. He was quieter than usual while he ate that night, and it is possible that if he had been asked, five minutes later, on what he had fared, he would not have known, for he was thinking of greater things. Out of a full heart the mouth speaketh, but there are times when the heart is overfull for speech. When life is at its starry point speech is a desecration, and so they sat before the stove in silence and gazed into its glowing heart, while the minutes ran out and each one brought the new life nearer. He drew her hand between his two hands, and felt the full tide of her love pulsing through it as she felt his. A solemn sense of expectation was on them. The vague unrest was gone. The happy riot of their love-making was stilled. Their time had come. The past lay a-dying, and the new life lay cradled within the hour. The very depth of their gladness filled them with a sense of awe. It was in no light humour that these two came together. As the little German clock on the shelf told midnight, Paul stood up, and she stood facing him on the instant, as though they two were indeed already one, as though one thought and one heart already moved them both. "Dearest!" he said, in those deep tones that came right from his heart and set her own heart thrilling in response. "The time we have waited for is come. I do not ask if your heart is changed. I know it is not." Her eyes were like stars as he looked deep into them, and found there nothing but pure love and steadfast faith. "You trust me, Hope Ivanovna?" "With my life." "We have no priest. We can have no witnesses. What we do is in the sight of God alone." "I am content." "Kneel with me, dearest." And they knelt by a chair--a chair that had been made by a carpenter who had murdered his wife, and so had been sent to build up the empire in the East. But it was a well-made chair in spite of its origin, and for these two it became a solemn altar. They had no candles, no crowns, no carpet, no incense, no choir. Nothing but the convict's chair and the rough wood floor, and their two selves, and God. But the chair was clean, and the floor was clean, and their hearts were clean. They knelt in silence for a time, such time as the priest, had he been there, would have been praying over them. And the little German clock on the shelf cried "Quick! Quick! Quick! Quick!" as though he feared that something might step in between them even now. But nothing was abroad that night. The wind howled round the corners of the house, and rumbled in the clay chimney. It piled the snow high against the windward side, and snapped the long icicles that hung to the ground on the other side. But inside there was a great silence.