h their companions.

And then another space and a tingling silence; the crowds bow down like
corn before the wind, the far-off trumpets are silent; and He comes--He
comes!

On He moves, treading under foot the laws He has made, yet borne up by
them as on the Sea of Galilee; He Who inhabits eternity at an instant is
made present; He Who transcends space is immanent in material kind; He
Who never leaves the Father's side rests on His white linen carpet, held
yet unconfined; in the midst of the little gold things and embroidery and
candle-flames and lilies, while the fragrance of the herbs rises about
Him. There rests the gracious King, before this bending group; the rest
of the pageant dies into silence and nothingness outside the radiant
circle of His Presence. There is His immediate priest-herald, who has
marked out this halting-place for the Prince, bowing before Him, striving
by gestures to interpret and fulfil the silence that words must always
leave empty; here behind are the adoring human hearts, each looking with
closed eyes into the Face of the Fairest of the children of men, each
crying silently words of adoration, welcome and utter love.

The moments pass; the court ceremonies are performed. The Virgins that
follow the Lamb, Felicitas, Perpetua, Agatha and the rest step forward
smiling, and take their part; the Eternal Father is invoked again in the
Son's own words; and at length the King, descending yet one further step
of infinite humility, flings back the last vesture of His outward Royalty
and casts Himself in a passion of haste and desire into the still and
invisible depths of these two quivering hearts, made in His own Image,
that lift themselves in an agony of love to meet Him....

* * * *

Meanwhile the Easter morning is deepening outside; the sun is rising
above the yew hedge, and the dew flashes drop by drop into a diamond and
vanishes; the thrush that stirred and murmured last night is pouring out
his song; and the larks that rose into the moonlight are running to and
fro in the long meadow grass. The tall slender lilies that have not been
chosen to grace the sacramental Presence-Chamber, are at least in the
King's own garden, where He walks morning and evening in the cool of the
day; and waiting for those who will have seen Him face to face....

And presently they come, the tall lad and his sister, silent and
together, out into the radiant sunlight;