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The reverence which she had always felt for him grew warmer under his gaze, till it was almost the affection of a child for a father. 'But should I be the right kind of wife for you, Mr. Grail? she asked, with a strange simplicity and diffidence. 'I know so little. 'Can you think of being my wife? he said, in tones that shook with restrained emotion.
He grew mirthful, indulging the boyish humour which, as a reaction from his accustomed lonely silence, came upon him when he had a sympathetic companion. To Gilbert this was a new phase of Egremont's character; he, sober in happiness, answered the young man's merriment with an expressive smile. Grail had merely mentioned the fact of his intended marriage.
Some said it was deposited by a great glacier from the north, or some volcanic action on or near the natural park, but no theory seemed wholly satisfactory. When the sun illumined a thousand peaks the next morning, after a delightful rest, we rode away from this Holy Grail of the Sheep Eaters, and it was not hard to imagine the character of the little men who lived among these hills and valleys.
'I suppose you know all about it, Mr. Grail? Gilbert seated himself, and Mrs. Poole, pretending to arrange the linen, stood just before him, with a sly smile. 'I'm not sure that I do, he replied, avoiding her look. She lowered her voice. 'The idea of a great lad going on like he does!
But after a time the vessel was lost, and the story of it even forgotten, or only remembered in some dim way. And this is the story which the poet-priest, Walter Map, used to give new life and new glory to the tales of Arthur. He makes the knights of the round table set forth to search for the Grail. They ride far away over hill and dale, through dim forests and dark waters.
"The knights of the Grail are coming into the hall and sitting at two tables, long and curved, so that they make a great circle just under the dome. On the tables before them are cups, but nothing else. As the knights come they sing in chorus, and voices up in the dome and others still higher answer their song, while from the height far above them all still rings the soft voice of the chimes.
Though it was often hard to go out at night and leave his little ones, he did so that his resolve might not suffer. He and they lived in one room, in the same house which sheltered Miss Totty Nancarrow. On the evening which Egremont spent at Eastbourne, Grail came across Bunce on the way home from the factory.
'Ah, this is what Ackroyd was speaking of on Saturday, Gilbert remarked, holding the letter to his mother. 'I wonder what it means. 'Who is this Mr. Egremont? asked Mrs. Grail. 'He belongs to the firm of Egremont & Pollard, so Ackroyd tells me. You know that big factory in Westminster Bridge Road where they make oil-cloth.
It is the dove that comes once a year to the temple and strengthens the power of the Holy Grail, and as the knight sees it he kneels and prays and then rises and unwinds the silver chain from the swan's neck, and at the very instant the swan is changed into a beautiful boy, the lost brother, and he runs to his sister and they clasp each other in their arms, while the witch falls down upon the ground, overcome at last and powerless, and the knight steps into the boat, the dove lifts the silver chain, and they glide away upon the river, farther and farther, and the little spot where they were, that was the brightest in the fire, grows dimmer and fainter and goes out and is dark."
You will make Geoffrey a charming wife, and I shall be proud of my daughter." She took Elma's disengaged hand and pressed it between her own, and the girl smiled a happy response, but Geoffrey was oblivious of her presence, his eyes fixed upon his love's face, with the rapt, adoring gaze with which a knight of old may have gazed upon the vision of the grail.
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