At sunrise, I ride back with the messenger." And he maintained this
view so firmly that his face was rather stern as he spent the night settling
matters of ploughing and planting and pasturage with the indignant old
servitor.
But the next morning, after he had set forth and found how every mile
lengthening behind him lightened the burden of his depression, a kind of joy
rose phoenix-like out of the gray ashes of duty.
"If I had continued there, I should have become feeble in mind," he said.
"Now, since I have got out of that tomb that she haunts, it may be that I can
follow my art more lustily." And suddenly his sternness melted into a great
warmth, toward the strapping soldier riding beside him, toward the pannier-
laden venders swinging along in their tireless dog-trot, even toward the
beggar that hobbled out of the ditch to waylay him. "To live out in the world,
where you are pulled into others' lives whether you will or no, is the best
thing to teach people to forget," he said. "Solitude has comfort only for
those who have no sorrows, for Solitude is the mother of remembrance."
He got genuine enjoyment out of the hour that he was obliged to sit in the
ante-room, waiting to be admitted to the King. On one side of him, a group was
discussing a Danish rebellion that seemed to be somewhere in progress; on the
other, men were speculating on the chances of a Norman invasion,--news of
keenest interest was flying thick as bees in June; and the coming and going of
the red-cloaked warriors, the occasional passing of some great noble through
the throng, stimulated him like wine.
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