'It recalls a favourite stanza at the end of the first book, which is
the legend of the "Knight of the Red Cross, or Holiness." It runs:
"Now strike your sails, ye jolly mariners, for we be come unto a quiet
road, where we must land some of our passengers, and light this weary
vessel of her load. Here she awhile may make her safe abode, till she
repaired have her tackles spent and wants supplied; and then again
abroad on the long voyage whereto she is bent; well may she speed and
finish her intent!" The ashes of the man who, three hundred years ago,
wrote the lines that figure forth your spiritual position of to-day
lie here. Three centuries he is behind the Great Veil. He says
himself; "But after death the trial is to come when best shall be to
them that lived best." Three centuries ago he foreshadowed the
position you stand in to-day. Three centuries ago he foreshadowed more
than this; he foreshadowed the charms of a woman, and sang: "Upon her
eyelids many graces sate, under the shadow of her even brows." He knew
of other things too--sweet things. He tells us, "Sweet is the love
that comes alone with willingness?" Do you believe in this sweet love
that comes alone with willingness?' She shook her head archly, looked
up and whispered,--
'This is not a good place to discuss such subjects. Shall we go out
and talk the matter over as we walk round the Abbey?'
His face, which had been flushed, grew grey and sad.
'Will you laugh at everything, Miss Gordon?'
'Yes, until someone convinces me of the value of tears.'
He turned away.
'Come,' he said, 'I have never been here before; but you find the
place dull, this sanctuary for memories, this incense of worship. Come
away.'
'I am not so much tired of the place as of the guide.'
'Then by all means let us go back. I am most unfortunate if I am the
cause of dulness in you; for I am sure, under average circumstances,
you could not fail to be interested in this place. Let us go back, I
beg.'
She dropped her brows slightly over her eyes and looked fixedly at him
for awhile.
'What new surprise and disappointment are in store for me?' he
thought. 'What unexpected onslaught is she going to make on my esteem
for her? How beautiful she is in this unbecoming wear! fine feathers
may make fine birds, but plain ones cannot mar her.'
'Are you hungry?' she asked, still keeping her careful eyes upon him.
He started. Had she, with her wonderful sharpness, seen some shadow on
his face, betraying a want of which he was unconscious? Most
marvellous of women! What keen penetration! He said,--
'May I ask you why?'
'Because your reply interests me.'
'In what way?'
He looked confounded. How on earth could it matter to her whether he
was or was not hungry?
'Because I am. I am tired of tombs and sermons. Come away, get a
hansom, and take me to the Criterion and give me a cosy luncheon. I am
tired of graves. Do, please.'
She said this in a low, rich, tender, pleading voice.
Suddenly a smile came over his face.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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