He was still young--younger, perhaps, than Knight--and even now
showed how graceful was his figure and symmetrical his build. He
murmured a prayer half aloud, and was quite unconscious that two
others were standing within a few yards of him.
Knight and Stephen had advanced to where they once stood beside
Elfride on the day all three had met there, before she had herself
gone down into silence like her ancestors, and shut her bright
blue eyes for ever. Not until then did they see the kneeling
figure in the dim light. Knight instantly recognized the mourner
as Lord Luxellian, the bereaved husband of Elfride.
They felt themselves to be intruders. Knight pressed Stephen
back, and they silently withdrew as they had entered.
'Come away,' he said, in a broken voice. 'We have no right to be
there. Another stands before us--nearer to her than we!'
And side by side they both retraced their steps down the grey
still valley to Castle Boterel.
The End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Hardy's A Pair of Blue Eyes
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