“And what is the end, you that are called Mary?”
Then the woman rose.
“Would you cross the Ford, O Torcall the Harper?”
He made no word upon that. But he listened. He heard a woman singing faint and low far away in the dark. He drew more near.
“Would you cross the Ford, O Torcall?”
He made no word upon that. But once more he listened. He heard a little child crying in the night.
“Ah, lonely heart of the white one,” he sighed, and his tears fell.
Mary Magdalene turned and looked upon him.
It was the face of Sorrow she had. She stooped and took up the tears. “They are bells of joy,” she said. And he heard a wild sweet ringing in his ears.
A prayer came out of his heart. A blind prayer it was, but God gave it wings. It flew to Mary, who took and kissed it, and gave it song.