greater part of persons who are generally
thought to be beyond the sympathies of life--the "priestesses of
society," who are the lowest among women. But they stood there for hours
in silence, or walked about with dazed looks, glancing up at the window
of a room on the second story which glittered with the rays of the dying
day. Their friend and champion was near to his death in that room, and
they were waiting for the last news of him.

The Prime Minister had kept his promise. Walking across from Downing
Street his face had been clouded, as if he was thinking out the riddles
of the inscrutable Power which stood to him for God. But when he came to
the square, and looked round at the people, his eyes brightened and he
went on with resignation and even content. The women made way for him
with whispered explanations of who he was, and he walked through them to
the room upstairs.

The room was nearly full already, for the Father Superior had come,
bringing lay brother Andrew along with him, and Aggie was sitting in a
corner, and Mrs. Pincher was moving about, and there was also a stranger
present. And though the little place was so mean and poor, it was full of
soft radiance from the sky, and people walked about in it with a glow
upon their faces.

Glory was by the bedside, standing erect and saying nothing. Her eyes
were glistening with unshed tears, and sometimes her mouth was twitching.
John Storm was conscious and very quiet. Holding Glory's hand as if he
could not part with it, he was looking around with the expression of the
soldier who has done the fearful, perhaps the foolish and foolhardy thing
and scaled the walls of the enemy. He is lying with the enemy's shot in
his breast now, and with death in his eyes, but he is smiling proudly for
all that, because he knows that the army is coming on. The Superior had
brought from the Brotherhood the picture of the head of Christ in its
crown of thorns to hang on the wall at the end of the bed, and the light
from the window made flickering gleams on the glass, and they were
reflected on to his face.

Hardly anybody spoke. As soon as the Prime Minister arrived he took a
paper from his pocket and gave it to the stranger, who glanced at it and
bowed. Then they all gathered about the bed, and the Superior opened a
book which he had carried in his hands, and in solemn accents began to
read:

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered together in the sight of God----"

Brother Andrew,