ve been for that other man. But that thought could
only flash on him in one second of fiery consciousness; he had no time
to recognize it as a motive; and he clings madly to the hope that his
conscience is mistaken, and it was not that which silenced him. Every
year, at the same spot, he re-enacts the scene, striving to convince
himself--with those who hear him--that he has been a coward, but not a
murderer; and in the moral and physical reaction from the renewed agony,
half-succeeds in doing so.

The story, thus told in Martin Relph's words, is supposed to have been
repeated to the present narrator by a grandfather, who heard them. It
embodies a vague remembrance of something read by Mr. Browning when he
was himself a boy.

The facts related in "PHEIDIPPIDES" belong to Greek legendary history,
and are told by Herodotus and other writers. When Athens was threatened
by the invading Persians, she sent a running messenger to Sparta, to
demand help against the foreign foe. The mission was unsuccessful. But
the "runner," Pheidippides, fell in on his return, with the god Pan; and
though alone among Greeks the Athenians had refused to honour him, he
promised to fight with them in the coming battle. Pheidippides was
present, when this battle--that of Marathon--was fought and won. He
"ran" once more, to announce the victory at Athens; and fell, dead, with
the words, "Rejoice, we conquer!" on his lips. This death followed
naturally on the excessive physical strain; but Mr. Browning has used it
as a connecting link between the historic and the imaginary parts of the
idyl. According to this, Pheidippides himself tells his first adventure,
to the assembled rulers of Athens: depicting, in vivid words, the
emotions which winged his course, and bore him onwards over mountains
and through valleys, with the smooth swiftness of running fire; and he
also relates that Pan promised him a personal reward for his "toil,"
which was to consist in release from it. This release he interprets as
freedom to return home, and to marry the girl he loves. It meant a
termination to his labours, more tragic, but far more glorious: to die,
proclaiming the victory which they had helped to secure.

Pan is also made to present him with a sprig of fennel--symbol of
Marathon, or the "fennel-field"--as pledge of his promised assistance.

"HALBERT AND HOB" is the story of a fierce father and son who lived
together in solitude, shunned by their fellow-men.