"You want food?" she said.
"I want nothing, lady," said he.
Elizabeth suddenly felt that there was something here for her; that this aged, quiet face, so full of joy, so shadowed by weakness, had a message. The feeling was instinctive and unaccountable.
"I will get you food in a moment," she said.
"I do not want food," said he.
Elizabeth put her hand on the top of the low wall and easily vaulted over.
"But you are tired and hungry," she said, "and you must have travelled far from your native place to come up here. Where are you from?"
"From Benares. I have searched all my life, but to-day my search is over."
A sudden wave of uncontrollable emotion seized the girl.
"Oh, tell me what you have searched for?" she said. "What is it?"