"
The man strove in vain to speak. At last he said quite clearly:
"I hunger," and so saying died.
The Prior was greatly moved, and for a while he knelt in prayer,
while the Brethren, amazed, waited his pleasure. Then he rose, and
lo! before him lay the open glade where his schooling had begun,
and he had seen a flower incarnate dance in the wind.
He bade them lift the dead, and lay him in the hollow of the glade
under fallen branches until they could return and give him burial.
Then, as they went on their way, he told the tale of his little
maid; and when the telling was ended, the village they had come to
succour was in sight, and lo! they saw it through a mist.
CHAPTER VIII--"BEHOLD THE FIELDS ARE WHITE"
The Prior's heart was ready, and it seemed to him as he passed up
the village and saw the huddled, helpless people, that his little
maid led him by the hand.
Brother Simon, Brother Leo, and the novices turned aside to speak
comfort and carry succour to the sick and fearful, and to bury the
dead; for three unshriven souls had passed to judgment and mercy.
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