th the
resurrection-life of spring; and the hills set round the town had that
faint flush of indescribable colour that tinges slopes of grass as the
sleeping sap begins to stir. The elm-trees in the court were hazy with
growth as the buds fattened at the end of every twig, and a group of
daffodils here and there were beginning to burst their sheaths of gold.
There on the little lawn before the guest-house were half a dozen white
and lavender patches of colour that showed where the crocuses would star
the grass presently; and from the high west front of the immense church,
and from beneath the eaves of the offices to the right the birds were
practising the snatches of song that would break out with full melody a
month or two later.

In spite of all that threatened, Chris was in an ecstasy of happiness.
It rushed down on him, overwhelmed and enveloped him; for he knew now
that he had been faithful. The flood of praise in the church had
dwindled to a thread; but it was still the _opus Dei_, though it flowed
but from two hearts; and the pulse of the heavenly sacrifice still
throbbed morning by morning, and the Divine Presence still burned as
unceasingly as the lamp that beaconed it, in the church that was now all
but empty of its ministers. There were times when the joy that was in
his heart trembled into tears, as when last night he and his friend had
sung the song to Mary; and the contrast between the two poor voices,
and the roar of petition that had filled the great vaulting a year
before, had suddenly torn his heart in two.

But now the poignant sorrow had gone again; and as he walked here alone
on this March evening, with the steady hills about him and the flushing
sky overhead, and the sweet life quickening in the grass at his feet, an
extraordinary peace flooded his soul.

There came a knocking at the gate, and the jangle of a bell; and he went
across quickly and unbarred the door.

Mr. Morris was there on horseback, a couple of saddlebags strapped to
his beast; and a little group of loungers stood behind.

Chris smiled with delight, and threw the door wide.

The servant saluted him and then turned to the group behind.

"You have no authority," he said, "as to my going in."

Then he rode through; and Chris barred the gate behind him, glancing as
he did so at the curious faces that stared silently.

Mr. Morris said nothing till he had led his horse into the stable. Then
he explained.

"One of the fellows