Eric did not answer; he simply lifted both his hands, showing that they were empty; then he let them fall again at his sides with the hopeless gesture of one who has given everything up for ever more. Then only did Radu come quite near and peer with frightened eyes more closely into his face. "What is it?" he cried. "What is it? What hast thou seen?" "Heaven and Hell," answered Eric. "I have been in both!" "And thy dream--didst thou find thy dream?" whispered the peasant. "I found it and I lost it," was the answer he got. "It was mine for a short hour of bliss--mine; but again God beat me down with my face to the earth. "I have been a dreamer of dreams, and it is not to be given to me to keep what I clasp. God allowed me visions to lead me ever on; they brought me to this land of promise. "It was summer then; now thou seest what colour is over the earth. But I touched my dream; I held it within my human arms; but as sayeth the poet: 'How can the body touch the flower which only the spirit may touch,' so I killed my flower, killed it with my kiss." "Can one kill with a kiss?" cried Radu, awe in his voice. "One can kill with more things than with a sword. I found the face of my vision, I followed it step by step. I hunted it down with sighs and tears till at last it was mine. I held it one short moment in my arms, a moment within which I lived the ultimate triumph of my desire. Then it was gone. I myself destroyed it, consumed it, with the thirst of my soul!" "But was she happy?" queried Radu, with tears in his eyes. "Was she happy! Good God! was she happy!" cried Eric, clenching his fists towards the skies. "Yes, I believe she was happy! If I did not believe that I could not live. She said to me to kiss her eyes so that for ever she could keep the picture of what she had loved best in this world! At that moment she died! My warm touch of love was death! Canst grasp that frightful truth?... was death! My lips, my lover's lips closed her eyes for ever!... for ever ... over the vision of my face! "Before they laid her in the ground I wrapped her in my cloak; that is why it is gone. I would not leave her thus thinly clad within the cold shadow of her grave; and upon the spot where she lies I planted my sword. There, where the eyes I followed so far are for ever closed, I left my sword." "Oh," sobbed Radu, "and now I shall never see that face!" "Yes, thou shalt," answered his friend. "Come with me and thou shalt see the fairest being God ever made!" "Where?" asked the astonished peasant, "where?" "Follow me and thou shalt know!" "But my sheep,--they are tired; and see how tame are my dogs, exhausted by the length of the way." "It is not far from here--there thou canst rest; thou art not in a hurry, and I would thou shouldst know the eyes of my dream." Again Eric hid his face in his clasped hands, whilst a harsh dry sob rose to his throat. "Come, come! I, too, thirst for the sight of her face."