Caius could not hear what she said, but he
felt assured that the birds could understand.
For some few minutes Caius looked at this scene; he did not know how
long he looked; his heart within him was face to face with a pain that
was quite new in his life, and was so great that he could not at first
understand it, but only felt that in comparison all smaller issues of
life faded and became as nothing.
Beyond the youthful figure of the corn-giver Caius saw another woman. It
was the wife of O'Shea, and in a moment her steadfast, quiet face looked
up into his, and he knew that she saw him and did not tell of his
presence; but, as her eyes looked long and mutely into his, it seemed to
him that this silent woman understood something of the pain he felt.
Then, very quietly, he turned his horse and rode back by the path that
he had come.
The woman he had seen was the wife of the sea-captain Le Maitre. He said
it to himself as if to be assured that the self within him had not in
some way died, but could still speak and understand. He knew that he had
seen the wife of this man, because the old cloak and hood, which he knew
so well, had only been cast off, and were still hanging to the skirts
below the girlish waist, and the white cap, too, had been thrown aside
upon the snow--he had seen it. As for the girl herself, he had loved her
so long that it seemed strange to him that he had never known until now
how much he loved her.
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