Konrad gazed at it reverently for the few minutes until it vanished.

Then the long, dark, miserable night.

And this was called living! And it was for such life that you petitioned the king.

But if a king grants mercy, then the sun shines.

The kindness shown him by the judge had strengthened him a little, but the last of his surging thoughts was always, "Hopeless!" The next night Konrad had another visitor--his mother, in her Sunday gown, just as she used to go to communion.