God would accept it for an atonement--yes; and there was soft balm like a river of morning air in the thought.
* * * * * Sim slept on, and Brown crouched over the fire, with his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees.

There was not a motion within the house or without; the world lay still and white like death.
Yes, it must be so; it must be that his life was to be the ransom.
And it should be paid! Then the clouds would rise and the sun appear.
"Fate that impedes, make way, make way! Mother, Rotha, Willy, wait, wait! I come, I come." Ralph's face brightened with the ecstasy of reflection.

Was it frenzy in which his morbid idea had ended?
If so, it was the frenzy of a self-sacrifice that was sublimity itself.
At one moment Brown stirred in his seat and held his head aside, as though listening for some sound in the far distance.
"Did you hear it ?" he asked, in a whisper that had an accent of fear.
"Hear what ?" asked Ralph.
"The neigh of the horse," said Brown.

"I heard nothing" replied Ralph, and walked to the window, and listened.

"What horse ?" he asked, turning about.
"Nay, none of us knows rightly.