The Silver Crown Part 6

He smiled and nodded to the child, and the child nodded to him, and waved his hand, and the man went on, carrying the smile warm at his heart, and took up the burden of life again.

Now it was evening. The child was weary. His head drooped on his bosom, and his eyes closed. Then his mother came, and lifted him from his chair, and laid him in his little bed.

"G.o.d bless him!" she said softly. "He has had a happy day, for he is smiling even in his sleep."

AT LONG LAST

"Heart-of-mine, are you come at last?"

"At long, long last, Beloved!"

"Was it so long?"

"Long as grief, cold as the stone above your grave, empty as the noonday sky!"

"Oh! how was it empty, when I left the cup br.i.m.m.i.n.g over for you?

Heart-of-mine, whom met you by the way?"

"Only a man, crippled in the mire, cursing as he struggled. I shut my ears against his foul speech and pa.s.sed on."

"Oh! if it were my brother, whom you should have helped! whom else?"

"Only a woman, bowed under a burden; my own was more than I could bear, and I let her be."

"Alas! if it were my sister, and in her pack the balm that should have healed you! Whom else again?"

"None else, save children: they cried about my path, but how could I stay for them while you waited?"

"Alas! if among the children were those I might not bear to you! And fare you well, Heart-of-mine, for I must be gone, and now the time is long indeed."

"Oh! whither, Beloved of my soul, from my arms that clasp yet cannot hold you?"

"Heart-of-mine, where but back to earth, to do the work you left undone, to gather up, with patience and with toil, the sheaves you left behind!"

GILLYFLOWER GENTLEMAN

"Why do you play alone, dear," asked the Play Angel, "and look so sadly over your shoulder at the other children?"

"Because they are so selfis.h.!.+" said the child. "They will not play with me."

"Oh, the pity!" said the Angel. "Tell me all about it."

"I want to play one game, and they all want to play another!" said the child. "It is very unkind of them."

"Did you ever play Gillyflower Gentleman?" asked the Angel.

"No!" said the child. "What is it?"

"You shall see!" said the Angel. "Let us ask the others if they know it."

The other children did not know it, but they were eager to learn, and soon they were all playing Gillyflower Gentleman; they played till all their breath was gone, and they had to sit down on the hayc.o.c.ks to rest.

"That was a great game!" said the first child. "I will play yours now, if you wish me to."

"We were just going to tell you that we would play yours!" said the other children. So they played both, and the Play Angel went back to her work.

THE JUDGMENT

"_Of judgment, because the Prince of this World is judged._"--

Now came the day when the Prince should be brought to judgment. Slowly he came, under the weight of his fetters, that clanged about his wrists and feet. His head was low on his breast, and his eyes heavy; so he stood before the judgment seat, and spoke not, nor raised his eyes.

The little Judge looked on him, and sighed, and spoke.

"It was you who saw me hungry and naked and cold, and drew your furs round you and pa.s.sed by."

"Yea!" said the Prince.

"It was you who set me cruel tasks, and smote me when I fainted under them."

"Yea!" said the Prince.

"It was you who cast me into prison, into darkness and bitterness as of death."

"Yea!" said the Prince.

"Alas!" said the little Judge. "Poor soul, did you know no better?"

When the Prince heard that a great sob burst from him, and he fell on his face before the judgment seat, and his fetters clanged loud on the stone.

Oh! then came little feet pattering down the steps, and little hands lifted him, and he rose to his feet; but the chains lay where they fell.

"Come, Brother!" said the little Judge. "We will go back, and begin again together!"