And then as he gradually drew nearer, the thought came to her to go and meet him, and she started to run down the slope. She reached him. She gave him both her hands. She was ready—she was eager—to be drawn into his arms.
But he did not so draw her. To her amazement he only bowed himself before her and stretched forth the shield he bore that it might cover them both.
"It is Mr. Greatheart!" she said to herself in wonder. "Of course—it is
Mr. Greatheart!"
And then, while she still gazed upon the glittering, princely form, he put up a hand and lifted the visor. And she saw the kindly, steadfast eyes all kindled and alight with a glory before which instinctively she hid her own. Never—no, never—had she dreamed before that any man could look at her so! It was not passion that those eyes held for her;—it was worship.
She stood with bated breath and throbbing heart, waiting, waiting, as one in the presence of a vision, who longs—yet fears—to look. And while she waited she knew that the sun was shining upon them both with a glowing warmth that filled her soul abrim with such a rapture as she had never known before.
"How wonderful!" she murmured to herself. "How wonderful!"
And then at last she summoned courage to look up, and all in a moment her vision was shattered. The darkness was all about her again; Greatheart was gone.
CHAPTER XXI
THE RETURN
What happened after the passing of her vision Dinah never fully knew, so slack had become her grip upon material things. Her spirit seemed to be wandering aimlessly about the mountain-side while her body lay in icy chains within that miserable shelter. Of Isabel's presence she was no longer even dimly aware, and she knew neither fear nor pain, only a wide desolation of emptiness that encompassed her as atmosphere encompasses the world.