64 The Hermit of the Pillar

when the teeth come through the gum, and
she can but cry ah! ah! and hath no words
to tell what she aileth.”’

“Why didst thou do all this?” asked the
Hermit. “What hath been thy reward?
Or for what reward dost thou look?”’

The Goose-herd gazed at him blankly
for a moment; then his face brightened.
“Surely,” he said, “ to see her as she goes
on her way, a bright, brown little living thing,
with her clear hair and glad eyes, is a goodly
reward. And a goodly reward is it to think
of her growth, and to mind me of the days
when she could not walk and I bore her
whithersoever I went; and of the days when
she could but take faltering steps and was
soon fain to climb into my arms and sit upon
my neck; and of the days when we first fared
together with the geese to market and I cut
her her first hazel stick ; and in truth of all
the days that she hath been with me since I
found her.”

As the Goose-herd spoke the tears rose in
the Hermit’s eyes and rolled slowly down
his cheeks ; and when the young man ceased,
he said: “‘O son, now I know why thou art
so pleasing in the eyes of God. Early hast