One day she told her the whole distressful tale. It was in the garden behind the house, a green and pleasant place opening on the river, and flanked with stone. The two were in an arbour framed of laurels, its floor mosaicked with quaint tiles. Igraine sat on the bench with Lilith on a stool at her feet. They were both sad, for Lilith was a girl whose heart answered strongly to any tale of unhappy mood. Igraine had made mere truth of the matter, neither justifying nor embellishing. Her clear bleak words were the more pathetic for their very simpleness. Lilith had been crying softly to herself. Her brown eyes were very misty when she turned her white face to Igraine’s with a grievous little sigh.
“What can I say to you?” she said.
“Nothing,” said Igraine, taking her hands and smiling through misery.
“I have never the words I wish for, and when I feel most I can say little.”
“You understand; that is enough for me.”
“Ah,” said Lilith, with a fine blush and a shy look, “I think I can feel for you, Igraine, almost to the full, though I seem such an Agnes. I am woman enough to have learnt something that means all to a girl. I am very sad for your sake.”
“Child.”
“I will try to comfort you.”
Igraine’s eyes burned. She kissed Lilith on the lips and was mute. For a while they sat with their arms about each other, not daring to look into each other’s eyes. Then the girl kissed Igraine’s cheek, and touched her hair with her slim fingers.
“Perhaps I can help you,” she said.