“And are we, then,” asked he, mournfully, “to go without doing the very thing for which we came?”

All were silent awhile.  At last John Brimblecombe spoke.

“Show me the way to do it, Mr. Frank, and I will go.”

“My dearest man,” said Amyas, “what would you have?  Any attempt to see her, even if she be here, would be all but certain death.”

“And what if it were?  What if it were, my brother Amyas?  Listen to me.  I have long ceased to shrink from Death; but till I came into these magic climes, I never knew the beauty of his face.”

“Of death?” said Cary.  “I should have said, of life.  God forgive me! but man might wish to live forever, if he had such a world as this wherein to live.”

“And do you forget, Cary, that the more fair this passing world of time, by so much the more fair is that eternal world, whereof all here is but a shadow and a dream; by so much the more fair is He before whose throne the four mystic beasts, the substantial ideas of Nature and her powers, stand day and night, crying, ’Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, Thou hast made all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created!’ My friends, if He be so prodigal of His own glory as to have decked these lonely shores, all but unknown since the foundation of the world, with splendors beyond all our dreams, what must be the glory of His face itself!  I have done with vain shadows.  It is better to depart and to be with Him, where shall be neither desire nor anger, self-deception nor pretence, but the eternal fulness of reality and truth.  One thing I have to do before I die, for God has laid it on me.  Let that be done to-night, and then, farewell!”

“Frank!  Frank! remember our mother!”

“I do remember her.  I have talked over these things with her many a time; and where I would fain be, she would fain be also.  She sent me out with my virgin honor, as the Spartan mother did her boy with the shield, saying, ‘Come back either with this, or upon this;’ and one or the other I must do, if I would meet her either in this life or in the next.  But in the meanwhile do not mistake me; my life is God’s, and I promise not to cast it away rashly.”

“What would you do, then?”

“Go up to that house, Amyas, and speak with her, if Heaven gives me an opportunity, as Heaven, I feel assured, will give.”

“And do you call that no rashness?”

“Is any duty rashness?  Is it rash to stand amid the flying bullets, if your queen has sent you?  Is it more rash to go to seek Christ’s lost lamb, if God and your own oath hath sent you?  John Brimblecombe answered that question for us long ago.”

“If you go, I go with you!” said all three at once.

“No.  Amyas, you owe a duty to our mother and to your ship.  Cary, you are heir to great estates, and are bound thereby to your country and to your tenants.  John Brimblecombe—­”

“Ay!” squeaked Jack.  “And what have you to say, Mr. Frank, against my going?—­I, who have neither ship nor estates—­except, I suppose, that I am not worthy to travel in such good company?”