So she took
the lantern from its nail and set it on the floor at the head of the two
pallets, and it threw scattered spots of lustre on Rice's white forehead
and Maria's hair. This humble shrouded torch, impertinent as it looked
when the lily-white moonlight lay across it, yet reminded beholders of a
stable, and a Child born in a stable who had taught the race to turn
every sorrow into glory.
The night sent its quiet through the attic, though the bells which had
clamored so over the destruction of verdure and homes appeared now to
clamor louder over the destruction of youth.
"Do you understand this, Peggy? They died heretic and unblessed, yet I
want to know what they now know until it seems to me I cannot wait. When
I have been playing the harp to tante-gra'mere, and thinking so much,
long, long afternoons, such a strange homesickness has grown in me. I
could not make anybody believe it if I told it. These two have found out
what is beyond. They have found out the great secret. Oh, Peggy, I do
want to know it, also.
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