"So meek folk say; we are not all mild earth to be smitten and make no moan. There are sea-spirits that lash and foam, fire-spirits that leap and burn. My spirit is of the flame; am I to be cursed, then, because I was born with a soul of fire?" "We cannot answer all this, Igraine." "I hate to bow down blindly, to cast ashes on the head because a superstition bids us so." "I have faith!" "I cannot see with my heart." "I would you could, Igraine." "Perhaps you are right." Garlotte put on her shift and frock with a sigh, and straightway went and kissed Igraine on the forehead. They sat close together under the tree and watched the valley grow dim as death, and the pool black and lustrous as a mirror turned to the twilight. Garlotte's warm heart was yearning to Igraine; her arm was close about her, and presently Igraine's head rested upon her shoulder. She began to tell the girl many things in a still, stifled voice; her bitterness gushed out like fermented wine, and for a season she was comforted--with no lasting balm indeed, for there was but one soul in the world that could give her that. "Believe, Igraine, believe," said Garlotte very softly. "Believe--child!" "That there is good for every one in the world if we wait and watch in patience." "I seem to have watched years go by, and life stretches out from me as a sea at night." "Look not there, Igraine, but into your own heart and into the gold of faith." "I have no heart to look to, child." "Save into a man's. And it was a good heart." "Good as a god's." "Then look into it still." "You speak like a mother." They had talked on into the dusk of night, forgetful of time, hearing only the dripping from the leaves, seeing nothing but the short stretch of water and herbage at their feet. Yet an hour ago a figure in a palmer's cloak and cowl had come out from the western forest and stood leaning upon its staff, to stare out broodingly over the valley. The laurel green of the man's cloak harmonised so magically with the green of grass and tree that it was difficult to isolate his figure from the framing of wood and meadow.