her. Let the
horses go, and the man and the woman and the servants; but we shall go
forth together and find the world beyond the mountains."

And with his hand tangled in the mane of the stallion, he walked down
the road, away from the hill, the house, the lake. He would not look
back, for the house on the hill seemed to him a tomb, the monument of
the four dead men who had made this little kingdom.

By the time he reached the gate the Garden of Eden was awash with the
shadows of the evening, but the higher mountain-tops before him were
still rosy with the sunset. He paused at the gate and looked out on
them, and when he turned to Glani again, he saw a figure crouched
against the base of the rock wall. It was Ruth, weeping, her head fallen
into her hands with weariness. Above her stood Glani, his head turned to
the master in almost human inquiry. The deep cry of David wakened her.
The gentle hands of David raised her to her feet.

"You have not come to drive me away again?"

"To drive you from the Garden? Look back. It is black. It is full of
death, and the world and our life is before us. I have been a king in
the Garden. It is better to be a man among men. All the Garden was mine.
Now my hands are empty. I bring you nothing, Ruth. Is it enough? Ah, my
dear, you are weeping!"

"With happiness. My heart is breaking with happiness, David."

He tipped up her face and held it between his hands. Whatever he saw in
the darkness that was gathering it was enough to make him sigh. Then he
raised her to the back of Glani, and the stallion, which had never borne
a weight except that of David, stood like a stone. So David went up the
valley holding the hand of Ruth and looking up to her with laughter in
his eyes, and she, with one hand pressed against her breast, laughed
back to him, and the great stallion went with his head turned to watch
them.

"How wonderful are the ways of God!" said David. "Through a thief he has
taught me wisdom; through a horse he has taught me faith; and you, oh,
my love, are the key with which he has unlocked my heart!"

And they began to climb the mountain.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GARDEN OF EDEN***

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