"Thy father's father's sire," she told him. She saw it coming; the
chains which bound his heart to hers were stretching. "He was a teller
of tales, son, and--thy father thinks a fold of his mantle hath fallen
upon thee. He it was who was first servus in the family of our lord.
Little one, tell mother; what thoughts hast thou when the night comes
down and the wide earth hushes into drowsy crooning? Hast ever felt
dreams stirring at thy heart-strings like chords of faintest music?"

"Mother!" Nicanor cried, and tightened his arms about her. "Thou hast
it--the words--the words! Tell me how to do it! Thoughts I have, and
visions so far away that they are gone before I know them--but the
words! I cannot say the things I would, so that they ring. Teach it me,
then!"

Susanna laughed, and stroked her boy's hot head.

"Words I have, little son," she said softly, "but I have no tune to sing
them to. A woman hath but one tune, and that is ever in the same key.
One song, and one only, in her life she hath, and when that is ended,
she is dumb. But please the good God! thou'lt have what lies behind the
words and alone makes them of value; the thought which is the
foundation-stone to build upon. And then the words will come also. What
visions hast thou seen, sonling?"

"Mother, I cannot tell, for my mouth is empty though my head rings.
Always it begins as though a curtain of mist were swept rolling back
from the face of the world, and I see below me vague mountains and broad
lonely wastes, and gray cities sleeping in dead moonlight, for it is
ever night. I see clouds that reach away to the rim of the earth, and it
is all as in a dream, and--and so deep within me that I lose it before I
know it.--Oh, I cannot tell!"

He stirred restlessly and nestled his head deeper into her breast, and
she stroked his hair in silence. When he spoke again there was a new
note in his boy's voice.

"Mother, I too will be a teller of tales, even as was that sire of my
father's sire whose name was Melchior. For in that there is to me all
joy, and no pain nor sorrow at all. And I shall be great, greater than
he and greater than those who shall come after me."

Susanna laid her hand across his mouth.

"Hush thee, for the love of dear Heaven, hush! That is boasting, and
good never came of that! Oh, little son of mine, listen to me, thy
mother,--it may be for the last time,--and keep my words always in a
corner of thy heart. They shall be as a charm