"Oh, come away," he cried. "And now we will go quickly to the New Village, that one which I have found or another, where men know all this happiness and more."
But she stood there by Matthew's cupboard and shook her head.
"No," she said gravely, "here we will stay, you and I, in your house. Here we will live—and it may be there is a handful of others who understand. And here we will do what we can."
"But I must show you," Matthew cried, "the way the others live—the things they strive for: the following of paths to clearer spaces, the freeing of shrines."
"All that," she said, "we will do here."
"But," he urged, "you must see how else they do—the shell, the pretty stone, the watch, the woolly lamb on three wheels and one wheel missing...."
"All that," she said, "is in my heart."
Matthew looked in her face and marvelled, for he saw that beside her beauty there was her power, and to that he bowed himself as to a far voice. And again it was as when the bird was at his breast, but now he knew what this would be.
So they live there in Matthew's house. And a handful besides understand and toil for the fairer order. And this will come; and then that New Village, in the clear upper spaces, will hang just above every village—nay, will come down to clothe it like a garment.
When I had done,