ngel stood waiting at the door, and
that presently the spirit of one that lay within must arise, leaving
the poor body behind, and go with the angel.

In the high chamber where Helen lay burnt a light behind a curtain;
and Paul saw a form pass slowly to and fro. And he would fain have
pitied the two who must lose her whom they loved; but there passed
over his spirit a sort of bitter wind; and he could feel no pity for
any soul but his own, and his heart was dry as dust; he felt in his
mind nothing but a kind of dumb wonder as to why he had troubled
himself to come.

There must have been, he saw, a servant bidden to await his coming,
because, as his feet sounded on the flags, the door was opened to him;
and in a moment he was within the hall. At the well-known sights and
scents of the place, the scene of his greatest happiness, the old
aching came back into his stony heart, and grief, that was like a
sharp sword, thrust through him. Suddenly, as he stood, a door opened,
and Margaret came into the hall; she saw him in a moment; and he
divined that she had not known he was within, but had meant only to
pass through; for she stopped short as though irresolute, and looked
at him with a wild and imploring gaze, like a forest thing caught in a
trap.

In a moment there flowed into Paul's heart a great pity and
tenderness, and a strength so wonderful that he knew it was not his
own, but the immortal strength of God. And he stepped forward,
forgetting all his own pain and misery, and said, "Margaret, dear one,
dear sister, what is the shadow that hath fallen between us at this
time? I would not," he went on, "speak of ourselves at such an hour as
this; but I see that there is somewhat--we minstrels have a power to
look in the heart of those we love--and I think it is this--that you
can love me, dear one, as a brother, and not as a lover. Well, I am
content, and so it shall be. I love you too well, little one, to
desire any love but what you can give me--so brother and sister we
will be." Then he saw a light come into her face, and she murmured
words of sorrow that he could not hear; but he put his arm about her
as a brother might, and kissed her cheek. And then she put her hands
upon his shoulder, and her face upon them, and broke out into a
passion of weeping. And Paul, saying "Even so," kissed and comforted
her, as one might comfort a child, till she looked up, as if to
inquire somewhat of him. And he said smiling, "So this