The flesh was dying, but this that had risen in Fleury could not die.
Their other companion had gone down, clothed in hair and filth and the
desire of a beast, taking the remnant of the man with it.
Thus it had come to Bellair--the vivid contrast of cavern and high
noon. It was all in the two deaths, the enactment of the second, as yet
unfinished.... New York and all life moved with countless tricks and
lures to make a man lose his way, lose his chance to rise and die with
grace like this. New York was like one vast Lot & Company.
Fleury’s head was upon the knees of the woman. Bellair had not seen
her take him. For this last hour, the three were as one. There was a
cry from Bellair that the woman heard all her days:
“Oh, Fleury, do you have to go?”
So far as time measures, the silence was long before Fleury answered,
and then only to say:
“Take my hand, Bellair.”
He came up from a deep dream to obey. It had been as if he were out
under the stars again,--Fleury talking from the shadows near the
woman--the rest, vastness and starlight.
“It’s the _too-great_ light, Bellair. It came when I could stand it.
As soon as I could love you enough I could pray. It is the loss of the
sense of self that made it wonderful. The Light and His voice came from
ahead.
“‘_I am here for those who look ahead, and for those who turn back
two thousand years, I am there. Those who love one another find me
swiftly._’... This is dying of happiness.”
In the silence, the low lights of the cabin came back for their eyes.
They heard him say at the last:
“... I love you both and respect and thank you both. We found our
happiness in the open boat.... And Bellair, when you go back to New
York, do not stay too long. It is right for you to go, but do not stay
too long.... And dear Bellair--always follow the Gleam.”
The Doctor came. It was his step in the passage that roused them. He
bent to the face, then searched the eyes of the woman. She could not
find his.... Bellair was puzzled. The head was in her lap, yet the
preacher seemed behind them, and still with something to say. They were
not sure at first that it was the Doctor who asked:
“Why did you not call me?”
He repeated the question.
“He told us--you would come afterward,” Bellair said in a dazed way.
“Yes, he wanted it so,” said the woman.
The Doctor stared at them. “Are you two going to pull off anything
further to-night, or are you going to get the rest you need, and attend
to the nourishment you need?”
“We’re under orders now, Doctor,” said Bellair....
“If I should want him in the night--if I should be frightened, you
would let him come?”
It was the Faraway Woman who asked this of the Doctor, her hand
touching Bellair’s sleeve.
“Why, of course,” the Doctor answered quickly.
“We’ve been together in strange things,” Bellair explained. “And now
you see, our friend is gone.”
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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