"I cannot see that," Bors answered; "the window of the choir is open, but the air outside is growing darker. I see a little cloud that the setting sun has turned all to crimson and to gold, and that is all."
After a time Percivale said again: "Bors, do you not see now? He is farther away, but still I can see the shining of the Holy Grail."
And Bors answered: "Even the little cloud is gone now, and where it was a bright star is shining. I can see no more."
And again Percivale said: "I hear music—trumpets and harps and voices—and I see Galahad still, and plainer than I saw him before, holding up the Holy Grail. Do you hear nothing, Bors, and see nothing?"
"I heard a loud wind," Bors answered. "It passed us and blew against the window of the choir and shut it. I cannot see the sky any more, but in the colored glass of the window I see Joseph of Arimathæa, holding up the Holy Grail, but I cannot see him clearly, it is growing so dark outside."
And still, though they did not see it then, the form of Galahad lay before them on the steps of the altar. And again there was no King of Sarras. They buried him, Percivale and Bors, in the cathedral, beside Percivale's sister. And after that Percivale found a cell outside the city and lived there as a hermit for a time, and then he died. Bors stayed with him till then, and he buried him in the cathedral, with his sister and Galahad. And when he had done that Bors left the City of Sarras and went on his way back toward England, to tell King Arthur the last of the story of the Holy Grail.
The Cheesewring
CHAPTER XVI
STORIES OF STRANGE STONES