Читать книгу Sir Knight of the Splendid Way - William Edward Cule - Страница 6

Table of Contents

It was the voice of Sir Fortis, and it was that good knight in very truth who stood in the doorway. Behind him stood Joyance and Eagerheart with the horses, and with loving smiles for the friend they loved. And it was day indeed, for the last of the night had gone while his heart had glowed with the Vision of the Face. Moreover, the cross which had been but a casement window was now a wide doorway leading to the valley beyond the Chapel: and through this doorway came the first beams of the morning sun, touching the stern grey walls till they shone white. They fell also upon the heaped armour, so that the Emblem upon the great shield had a new glory, and the noble helm glowed with fire.

The old knight raised Constant, and embraced him. “I might not come with thee to the Chapel,” he said lovingly, “and no man might share thy vigil. But it is permitted to me to set thee on thy way. For I know that thou hast seen the Vision.”

“Even now it was here,” said Constant. “I knew not that it had fled.”

“The Service,” said Sir Fortis, “is not a Vision but a Way. But now we will eat together, and then I will arm thee. For such is the joy that I have craved.”

He called the squires, and they came eagerly, to lay upon the stone table a white cloth of linen, with cups of silver and a meal of bread and wine. The two knights sat, and ate together, and drank, the squires serving them: and the white glory of the casement cross fell upon the cloth of the table, and the cups of silver, and the red wine of the Feast of the Splendid Way. But to Constant there was much more, for his heart was still fired by the Vision of the Face: and so great was its power that there seemed to be Another at the rude stone table, Lord of the Feast, Giver of the Bread and Wine.

When the Feast was over, Sir Fortis rose. “It is my joy to arm thee now,” he said, “and to give thee, in the King’s Name, the stroke of knighthood. Greater joy than this can fall to no man.”

So as the squires brought the armour the good knight took the pieces, and set them in place, and girded them safe and well for his friend, as no man knew better how to do. Then he set upon his head the helmet of tested steel, and last of all took up the mighty shield. “Its Emblem is of mystic power,” he said, “for as thy heart is, so shall its radiance be. May it be ever a shining light in dark and dreadful battle, a rallying-point for the King’s men in troublous days, a beacon of hope for the weak and forlorn. Yet ever remember this,” he added. “These arms shall be thy aid in hour of need, but ever the Vision of the Face shall be thy lodestar.”

So Constant took the shield, and kissed it, and laid it upon his arm: and after that he knelt beside the stone table, and the old knight drew his sword and gave him the touch that was the seal of knighthood. “Rise, Sir Constant, Knight of the Splendid Way,” he said. “In the King’s Name!” And he rose, and took his sword, and it was girded upon him: and Joyance and Eagerheart looked upon him with a noble envy. They had loved him well, but never as they loved him now.

“And now,” said Sir Fortis, “thou art armed, a knight indeed. Here, too, is the door Eastward, and the beginning of the Splendid Way. Look and see!”

Then the young knight looked, and saw how the path at the foot of the casement led away into the valley and beyond. Even as he looked he was granted a sudden vision of the whole of the Way, the Journey Perilous of the night of vigil; but now it was wholly changed, for the sun of morning shone upon it, lighting the darkest pass and silvering the heaviest cloud. Far away, walking slowly, was a traveller, his face set to the Eastward Hills and his shield upon his arm. Slowly indeed he went, as though the Way were rough and toilsome: but it seemed to Sir Constant that there was a light upon his path, a light that was not the light of the sun. It seemed to him that this light came from the footprints of One who walked with the traveller, as though to be his comrade. The form he could not see, but he knew that he was there.

This was a marvellous thing to him, and he watched with anxious wonder: but never did that unseen comrade leave the traveller alone. When the path led into a gorge dark and exceeding difficult they were so close that none might walk between: when they trod the way of the cliff it was the same, though the path seemed far too narrow for two; and on the wild mountain slope there was no solitude, for they went as brothers side by side. But when the dark and tangled forest was reached the order was changed, for there the guide walked before, leading the way, a light shining from his footprints and his presence as a morning mist.

Still the knight watched, and at last saw the distant traveller come to the misty valley at the end of the way: but there the presence came even nearer, taking him by the hand, so that they passed into that darkness together. For a moment they were lost to sight, but then the mists began to move, and lifted, and showed a sudden vision of a great city wall and the golden glory of many gates. With that the vision passed, and only the beginning of the Way was there.

And that was enough. Sir Constant stepped out from the casement door, the door of the Emblem, and set his foot upon the Splendid Way. They bade him God Speed, and watched him go till he turned and waved his hand in farewell.

The old knight answered the signal joyously, but when the pages looked they saw that his cheeks were wet with tears. Still he said nothing, and presently turned, and got to his horse, and led them home, leaving the grey Chapel standing lonely in the heart of the valley. But the tears upon his face were not the tears of sorrow but the tears of fellowship: for he knew well the perils of the Way, the Valley of Toil, the Pass of Tears, the smooth temptation of the City Dangerous, and the cold mists of the Sunless Sea. Moreover, though he had won through to peace and honour, well did he know the peril of the Black Knight and his evil brood, the peril that takes many direful and alluring shapes, some of them so secret that a man may not write them down. So his tears fell because he might not help the one he loved.

Still the Chapel stands lonely in the Valley of Decision, with its altar of stone and its casement that is a cross: and still young hearts come to the Chapel in the glow of holy desire, to pass the night of vigil and to win the Vision of the Face. For not until they have seen this may they take to themselves the arms of knighthood and set out upon the Splendid Way.