“I am paining you beyond necessity,” she said; “you will be happier and calmer if you do not see me till the day of my baptism. All things are God's will, and, bitter as the trial may be, he gives us strength to bear it, if we look to him. Farewell, Henry.”
He wrung her hand in silence, and saw the drooping figure pass quickly out of sight. He felt how much harder her trial was, and how selfish his own words had been, yet he did not try to see her again until the day of her baptism.
The ceremony was to take place at the cathedral, at four in the morning. The sun had just risen, and the quiet streets were golden with his light. Holcombe was watching at the door. She came very soon, wrapped in a long black cloak, looking radiant and calm, as if nothing more could be of any consequence to her, nor stir her heart confusedly. She held out her hand to her friend with a “God bless you!” that left him dumb. Her cloak was laid on a carved bench, and her white robe gleamed under the rainbow from the great stained-glass window above her. More beautiful than ever she seemed, and more angel-like. The priest poured the saving waters upon her head, and performed all the holy mystic ceremonies of the sacrament, and she, as if in a heavenly trance, followed him throughout with her eyes and her lips. Mass was said directly after, and she and Henry knelt together at the altar-rails to receive the Bread of Angels. A long time passed after Mass, and when at length Maheleth, now Mary, rose from her knees, it was only to go to the distant Lady-chapel, and there offer up a golden brooch of Spanish workmanship, one of the few treasures saved from the wreck of her father's fortune.
As she left the church, Henry followed her.
“Are you going home?” he asked timidly.
She turned her dark eyes upon him very softly, but with no sadness in them.
“I have no home now,” she said slowly. “Last night I bade my father farewell; I am going to the convent.”
A look of terror came into Henry's face.
“To stay there always?” he asked.
“As God wills—I do not know,” she replied.