I do not remember that we talked much. We toiled along in the warm air, with our wraps growing warm at every step, and we picked the violets and the wind-flowers near our path. At the foot of the hill my courage failed. I seated myself on a great flat rock, and announced my intention to stay there.
My two young friends remonstrated. They would wait until I was rested, and would help me all the way. But I could not and would not go, for I wished to be alone.
So I sent them off together, up the hill. They had taken off their hats, and were walking bare-headed. The wind was blowing the Lad’s dark hair away from his forehead, and was fluttering in the folds of Janet’s gown.
Looking across the rolling country I rested as I had not rested for months. There were hints of blossom among the cool, pale greens of grass and trees. I forgot my winter and my suffering poor, as the earth had forgotten its past in the glory of another spring.
All the knowledge of sin and of unholiness that the winter had brought me was annulled by the picture before me, of Janet and the Lad climbing bravely up the hill. How young and strong, how happy they were! What promise and hope lay in love like that!
For I knew, I know not how, that the crisis had come. I was sure that at last the unsurmountable obstacle had given way. I shut my eyes to let the wind blow on my eyelids. I was content. I wondered almost that the lovers did not envy me, for I shared the lives of both; both sides of the story were mine.
Just once I opened my eyes and looked. The pilgrims were standing at the end of the long green slope, against the pale blue sky. I saw the Lad take both the girl’s hands in his own, and then I turned my head. I had no right to watch them, even from outside the gates, beyond the drawn sword.
As I waited, I thought of the fitness of the scene. The passion and the purity of that love were one with the encompassing life of spring.
I was alone quite a long time, I think. The air grew cooler and more cool. The low, sweet piping of frogs came to me from the near river and the far-off pools. I was alone, dreaming my dreams.
The sunshine grew fainter as the afternoon wore on. It was full of a spring haze that was woven, half of light, and half of green, caught from new leaves. Presently I saw that only the tops of the willows and the young elms were in the sunlight. The day was almost done.