SCENE XV

“THE SECRETS OF OUR HEARTS”

The stranger from the inn stood with the mourners at the open grave, in the churchyard on the hillside.

The son and daughter glanced across, and wondered vaguely who he was, and why he stood so near.

Another coffin, hidden during thirty years, had seen the light that day; for the bricked grave had been so planned that two might lie within it, side by side.

Into the empty space they lowered the new coffin, with its bright silver fittings and polished wood, slipping it carefully into place beside the one which had rested there so long.

The mourners bent and looked into the grave, while the new coffin slowly passed from view; but the stranger kept his eyes lifted to the tree tops. His quiet face, so striking in its dark beauty, shewed no signs of deep emotion; yet, to many there, he seemed to be chief mourner.

=Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay.=

=In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may we seek for succour, but of Thee, O Lord, Who for our sins art justly displeased?=

=Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death.=

=Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not Thy merciful ears to our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, Thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from Thee.=

As the handful of earth fell with a sudden thud upon the coffin, the stranger started, seemed to awake to the actualities around him, took a step forward, and looked down into the grave.

Yes; side by side they lay—the two. One looked very grand and new beside the other, though careful hands had polished that and made it passable, to face the light of day.

The inscription on the large brass plate was clearly legible, and left no doubt as to what lay beneath the lid.

NIGEL GUIDO CARDROSS TINTAGEL

Aged 30

Drowned August 12th, 1883.

_Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends._

While he pondered these words, in solemn awe and silence, there fell upon his ears the Church’s triumphant promise of Life, which overcomes the grave; of faith, which changes death to life eternal.

=O merciful God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the resurrection and the life; in Whom whosoever believeth shall live, though he die; and whosoever liveth, and believeth in Him, shall not die eternally.... We meekly beseech Thee, O Father, to raise us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness; that, when we shall depart this life, we may rest in Him, as our hope is this our sister doth——=

“This our sister?” The shadow of a smile passed across the dark face, gazing so intently at the two coffins. How well he knew that the one, whatever its brass plate might say, held only a suit of clothes, spoilt by sea water, empty and done with. How easy it made it for him to realise that this new coffin, inscribed

MIRIAM TINTAGEL

also held naught save an empty gown—a very lovely robe, sacred and precious, because worn by her, but nothing more.

“Miriam, belovèd! Do you smile to see us standing here in our trappings of woe? Can you look back through that open door by which you passed into the radiance of Eternity, and see this little patch of Time, and mark the pomp and ceremony with which your worn-out garment is laid to rest beside mine? Do you see your husband, as he stands looking down upon his own coffin? And do you understand how strange is the experience, one through which probably no other man has ever passed?”

=The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore.= _Amen._

It was over at last, that tenderest of all the sacred services in the great Church’s Liturgy. Living and Dead were alike dismissed with those comprehensive words of grace, love, and fellowship; the threefold blessing of the Triune God.