dominated. There were
persons in the room, but they were as statues.

On the farther side of the bed, decent now and arranged and standing out
across the room, kneeled the two men, Jack Kirkby and Dick Guiseley, but
they neither lifted their eyes nor showed the faintest consciousness of
his presence as he entered. Their faces were in shadow: behind them was
the cold patch of the window, and a candle within half an inch of
extinction stood also behind them on a table in the corner, with one or
two covered vessels and instruments.

The nurse kneeled on this side, one arm beneath the pillow and the other
on the counterpane.

And then there was Frank.

* * * * *

He lay perfectly still upon his back, his hands clasped before him (and
even these were bandaged). His head lay high on three or four pillows,
and he wore what looked like a sort of cap, wholly hiding his hair and
ears. His profile alone showed clear-cut and distinct against the gloom
in the corner behind. His face was entirely tranquil, as pale as ivory;
his lips were closed. His eyes alone were alive.

Presently those turned a little, and the man standing at the door,
understanding the look, came forward and kneeled too by the bed.

* * * * *

Then, little by little, he began, in that living stillness, to
understand rather better what it was that he was witnessing.... It was
not that there was anything physical in the room, beyond the things of
which his senses told him; there was but the dingy furniture, the white
bed, august now with a strange dignity as of a white altar, and the four
persons beside himself--five now, for Jimmie was beside him. But that
the physical was not the plane in which these five persons were now
chiefly conscious was the most evident thing of all.... There was about
them, not a Presence, not an air, not a sweetness or a sound, and yet it
is by such negatives only that the thing can be expressed.

* * * * *

And so they kneeled and waited.

* * * * *

"Why, Jack--"

It shook the waiting air like the sound of a bell, yet it was only
whispered. The man nearest him on the other side shook with a single
spasmodic movement and laid his fingers gently on the bandaged hands.
And then for a long while there was no further movement or sound.

"Rosary!" said Frank suddenly, still in a whisper.... "Beads...."