But with the King all faith took a
material shape, which was his own, and the buying of his own salvation
had turned his soul into a place of spiritual usury.
The Lady Anne was calm and silent, and when young Baldwin spoke to her
she hardly heard him, and answered in few words, little to the point.
She had trusted that she might never see Jerusalem, for she had hoped
to die of wound or sickness by the way, and so end in heaven, with him
she had lost, the pilgrimage begun on earth. For she was a most
faithful woman, and of the most faithful there is often least to tell,
because they have but one thought, one hope, one prayer. And seeing
that she had come through alive, she neither rejoiced nor complained,
knowing that there was more to bear before the end, and trusting to
bear it all bravely for the dear sake of her dead love. It may be,
also, that she was the most earnest of all those who had taken the
Cross, because all earthly things that had made her life happy had been
taken from her.
Yet of all men, Gilbert Warde had fought best and most, and in so far
as bodily peril was counted, none had lived through so much as he; for
many of his companions had been killed beside him, and others had taken
their place, and even his man Dunstan had been wounded twice, and
little Alric once, and many horses had been killed under him, but he
himself was untouched, even after the great battle in the valley; and
there were honours for him whenever he was seen. In this, too, he was
high-hearted and thoughtless of himself, that when he saw the Holy City
before him, he forgot the many risks of life and limb, and the hunger
and cold and weariness through which he had passed, and forgot that he
had won reward well and fairly, thinking only that the peace he felt
came as a gift from Heaven.
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