Then they were within the church, darker, more ghostly, less rich in those days than now.

The boy stood beside the hewn stone basin wherein was the blessed water, and he touched the frozen surface with his fingers, and held them out to his companion.
"Is it thus ?" he asked.

And the heavenly smile grew more radiant as he made the sign of the Cross.
Again the woman inclined her head.
"Be it not upon me!" she exclaimed earnestly.

"Though I would it might be for ever so with thee." "It is for ever," the boy answered.
He went forward and prostrated himself before the high altar, and the soft light hovered above him.

The woman knelt at a little distance from him, with clasped hands and upturned eyes.