And there came to these watchers the strangest sight; for there flew past them while they gazed a man who seemed to be carried upon the sweep of the wind.  In the midst of the darkness they could see the faint white in his face, with eyes of flame and lips set firm, whirled forward upon the wind, which would have dashed him against the rocks; but as he whirled past, he caught with his hand the needles of the opposite peaks, and was swung high over a great chasm, and landed upon a higher height, high over their heads.  And for a moment they could hear, like a pulsation through the depths, the hard panting of his breath; then, with scarcely a moment for rest, they heard the sound of his progress onward, as if he did battle with the mountain, and his own swiftness carried him like another wind.  It had taken less than a moment to sweep him past, quicker than the flight of a bird, as sudden as a lightning flash.  The little Pilgrim followed him with her eager ears, wondering if he would leap thus into the country of light and take heaven by storm, or whether he would fall upon the heavenly hills, and lie prostrate in weariness and exhaustion, like him to whom she had ministered.  She followed him with her ears, for the sound of his progress was with crashing of rocks and a swift movement in the air; but she was called back by the pressure of the hand of the watcher, who did not, like the little Pilgrim, follow him who thus rushed through space as far as there was sound or sight of him, but had turned again to the lower side, and was gazing once more, and listening for the little noises in the gulf below.  The little Pilgrim remembered her friend’s hope, and said softly, ‘It was not he?’ And the watcher clasped her hand again, and answered, ’It was a dear brother.  I have sounded the silver bells for him; and soon we shall hear them answering from the heights above.  And another time it will be he.’  And they kissed each other because they understood each the other in her heart.

And then they talked together of the old life when all things began; and of the wonderful things they had learned concerning the love of the Father and the Son; and how all the world was held by them and penetrated through and through by threads of love, so that it could never fail.  And the darkness seemed light round them; and they forgot for a little that the wind was not as a summer breeze.  Then once more the hand of the watcher pressed that of her companion, and bade her hush and listen; and they sat together holding their breath, straining their ears.  Then heard they faint sounds which were very different from those made by him who had been driven past them like an arrow from a bow,—­first as of something falling, but very far away, and a faint sound as of a foot which slipped.  The listeners did not say a word to each other; they sat still and listened, scarcely drawing their breath.  The darkness had no voice; it could not be but that some traveller was there, though hidden deep, deep in the