There
they all sang together, in a mighty melody of older times, the 'Glory
to God in the highest,' which was first sung on the Holy Eve; and
there, when the Bishop of Metz was about to lift up the consecrated
bread, the royal trumpets rang out a great call to the multitude, so
that all men might bow themselves together. Then the silence was very
deep, while the Lord passed by; nor ever again in his life did Sir
Gilbert Warde know such a stillness as that was, save once, and it
seemed to him that in the Way of the Cross he had reached a place of
refreshment and rest.
CHAPTER XX
Gilbert rose from his knees with the rest, and then he saw that the
King and Queen placed themselves side by side and standing, and the
nobles began to go up to them according to their rank, to kiss their
hands. As Gilbert stood still, not knowing what to do, he watched the
procession of the barons from a distance. Suddenly he felt that his
eyes were wide open, and that he was gazing at a face which he knew,
hardly believing that he saw it in the flesh; and his back stiffened,
and his teeth ground on one another.
Ten paces from him, waiting and looking on, like himself, stood a
graceful man of middle height, of a clear olive complexion, with a
well-clipped beard of somewhat pointed cut, grey at the sides, as was
also the smooth, dark hair. Years had passed, and the last time he had
seen that face had been in the changing light of the greenwood, where
the sunshine played among the leaves; and as he had seen it last, he
had felt steel in his side and had fallen asleep, and after that his
life had changed.
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