His upon whose brow there once stood drops as it were of blood; and out of her heart there came a moaning which was without words.  If words had been possible, they would have been as His also, who said, ’Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’  For those who had wounded her were those whom in all the world she loved most dear; and the quivering of anguish was in her as she walked, seeking the darkness and the silence, and to hide herself, if that might be, from her own thoughts.  She went along the lonely path with the stinging of her wounds so keen and sharp that all her body and soul were as one pain.  Greater grief hath no man than this, to be slain and tortured by those whom he loves.  When her soul could speak, this was what it said ‘Father, forgive them!  Father, save them!’ She had no strength for more.

This the heavenly pilgrims saw,—­for they stood by her as in their own country, where every thought is clear, and saw her heart.  But as they followed her and looked into her soul—­with their hearts, which were human too, wrung at the sight of hers in its anguish—­there suddenly became visible before them a strange sight such as they had never seen before.  It was like the rising of the sun; but it was not the sun.  Suddenly into the heart upon which they looked there came a great silence and calm.  There was nothing said that even they could hear, nor done that they could see; but for a moment the throbbing was stilled, and the anguish calmed, and there came a great peace.  The woman in whom this wonder was wrought was astonished, as they were.  She gave a low cry in the darkness for wonder that the pain had gone from her in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye.  There was no promise made to her that her prayer would be granted, and no new light given to guide her for the time to come; but her pain was taken away.  She stood hushed, and lifted her eyes; and the gray of the sea, and the low cloud that was like a canopy above, and the lightening of colorless light towards the west, entered with their great quiet into her heart.  ’Is this the peace that passeth all understanding?’ she said to herself, confused with the sudden calm.  In all her life it had never so happened to her before,—­to be healed of her grievous wounds, yet without cause; and while no change was wrought, yet to be put to rest.

‘It is our Brother,’ said the little Pilgrim, shedding tears of joy.  ’It is the secret of the Lord,’ said the Sage; but not even they had seen Him passing by.

They walked with her softly in the silence, in the sound of the sea, till the wonder in her was hushed like the pain, and talked with her, though she knew it not.  For very soon questions arose in her heart.  ‘And oh,’ she said, ‘is this the Lord’s reply?’ with thankfulness and awe; but because she was human, and knew so little, and was full of impatience, ‘Oh, and is this all?’ was what she next said.  ’I asked for them, and Thou hast given to me—­’