he knew in his heart
that this was nothing but the presaging of death; and he thought that
the dreadful angel 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 mig