Without a word the Knight, bending his head, passed under the archway, mounted the steps, and was lost to view among the many pillars.
She closed the door, locked it, and withdrawing the key, stood alone where they had stood together.
Then, sinking to the ground, she laid her face in the dust, there where his feet had been.
It was farewell, here and now; farewell forever.
* * * * * *
After a while the Prioress rose, took up the lantern, and started upon her lonely journey, back to the cloister door.
CHAPTER XV
"SHARPEN THE WITS OF MARY ANTONY"
When the Prioress started upon her pilgrimage to the Cathedral with the Knight, she locked the door of her chamber, knowing that thus her absence would remain undiscovered; for if any, knocking on the door, received no answer, or trying it, found it fast, they would hasten away without question; concluding that some special hour of devotion or time of study demanded that the Reverend Mother should be free from intrusion.
The atmosphere of the empty cell, charged during the past hour with such unaccustomed forces of conflict and of passion, settled into the quietude of an unbroken stillness.