ther she passed, for a while, into that sublimated state of
consciousness wherein the veils of habit cease to blind and something
of the eternal essence and values of things is revealed, perception
overstepping, for once, the limits of ordinary, earth-bound
apprehension and transcending ordinary circumscription of time and
place, she could not tell. Nor did she greatly care. For a great peace
descended upon her, accompanied by a gentle, yet penetrating
expectancy. She stood very still, her feet set on the warm gravel, the
night air wrapping her about as with a fragrant garment, the ghostly
sweetness of that far-away bird-song in her ears, while momentarily the
conviction of the near presence of the man who had so loved her, and
whom she had so loved, deepened within her. And therefore it was
without alarm, without any shock of amazement, that gradually she found
her awareness of that presence change from something felt, to something
actually seen.

He came towards her--that first Richard Calmady, her husband and
lover--across the smooth, green levels of the troco-ground which lay
dusky in the mingling half-lights of the nearly departed sunset and the
rising moon, as he had come to her a hundred times in life, back from
the farms or the moorlands, from sport or from business, or from those
early morning rides, the clean freshness of the morning upon him, after
seeing his race-horses galloped. He came bareheaded, in easy
workmanlike garments, short coat, breeches, long boots and spurs. He
came with the repose of movement which is born of a well-knit frame,
and a temperate life, and the grace of gentle blood. He came with the
half smile on his lips, and the gladness in his eyes when they first
met hers, which had always been there however brief the parting. And
Katherine perceived it was just thus our beloved dead must needs return
to us--should they return at all--laying aside the splendours of the
spirit in tenderness for mortal weakness. Even as the Christ laid aside
the visible glory of the Godhead, and came a babe among men, so must
they come in humble, every-day fashion, graciously taking on the manner
and habit common to them during earthly life. Therefore she suffered no
shrinking, but turned instinctively, as she had turned a hundred times,
laughing very softly in the fulness of content, raising her hands,
throwing back her head, knowing that he would come behind her and take
her hands in his, and kiss her, so, be