Page:Gilbert Parker--The Lane that had No Turning.djvu/370

354 and someone forgot and set the engine in motion. I ran out; but it was too late … and then …"

"And then you tried to save them, Francis, and you were hurt."

"What month is this, my wife?"

"It is December."

"And that was in October?"

"Yes, in October."

"I have been ill since? What happened?"

"Many were killed, Francis, and you and I came away."

"Where are we now? I do not know the place."

"This is Megalon Valley. You and I live alone here."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"I did not bring you, Francis; you wished me to come. One day you said to me: ‘There is a place in Megalon Valley where, long ago, an old man lived, who had become a stranger among men—a place where the blackbird stays, and the wolf-dog troops and hides, and the damson grows as thick as blossoms on the acacia. We will go there.’ And I came with you."

"I do not remember, my wife. What of the mine? Was I a coward and left the mine? There was no one understood the ways of the wheel, and rod, and steam, save me.

"The mine is closed, Francis," she answered gently. "You were no coward, but—but you had strange fancies.

"When did the mine close?" he said, with a kind of sorrow; "I put hard work and good years into it."

At that moment, when her face drew close to his, the vision of her as she stood at the anvil came to him