own each dear arm, even to the finger-tips; and last of all
her feet; and again last of all her lips, and again last of all her
breast. And then he would go away, walking backwards most of the time,
or if not, still turning round and round to take another look at her.
Then when he was altogether out of sight, she would sit down and cry,
though all the while he would be peeping at her from his hiding-place,
to let her know that he was not really gone. Then she would lie down,
and cry more, and at last leave off crying and stay almost still on a
little bed, that seemed to come to her from nowhere, just when she was
ready to fall on it. Then, at last, she would shut her eyes, and cover
her face up very slowly with a sheet, and lie so still that he would
grow quite frightened, and come running from his hiding-place, and
lift the sheet, and look at her; then he would fall down as if his
legs had been cut from under him; then he would get up and throw
flowers over her, and at last catch her up and begin to carry her;
and at that she would wake up all at once and kiss him, to a sound of
bells.

They did not know why they did this; it was so beautiful they could
not have thought of it for themselves, and yet it said everything of
life that they wanted to say. For love was the beginning and the end
of it; and always, as they came to the sad part, they had tender
tremblings for fear the other should think the sorrow was real: he,
lest she should think he had really gone away and left her, never to
return; and she, lest he should believe that she always meant to lie
so cruelly still, with a sheet over her eyes. Yet the kissings that
came after made the fearfulness almost the sweetest thing in their
prayer-sayings to each other.

For to them this was a daily prayer, the most solemn thing in their
lives; heart praying to heart, and hand reaching to hand; and from
somewhere overhead gentle monitions as to what they must do next
coming to them, so that they knew how to pray best, now by lifting a
hand, or now by turning the head, or now by running fast with both
feet. And all this beautiful worship of love their bodies learned to
do more perfectly day by day; yet the little quaking of fear was still
in the centre of it all.

* * * * *

Killian's fingers grew nimble; and yet he often wondered to see how
true to life his puppets were, how they sighed, how they embraced and
clung, as if their hearts we