The Little
Missioner was facing the moon. He was gazing off into that wonder-world
of forests and snow and stars and moonlight in a fixed and steady gaze,
and it seemed to David that he aged, and shrank into smaller form, and
that his shoulders drooped as if under a weight. And all at once David
saw in his face what he had seen before when in the coach--a
forgetfulness of all things but one, the lifting of a strange curtain,
the baring of a soul; and for a few moments Father Roland stood with his
face turned to the light of the skies, as if preoccupied by an
all-pervading and hopeless grief.
CHAPTER X
It was Baree who disturbed the silent tableau in the moonlight. David
was staring at the Missioner, held by the look of anguish that had
settled so quickly and so strangely in his face, as if this bright night
with its moon and stars had recalled to him a great sorrow, when they
heard again the wolf-dog's howl out in the forest. It was quite near.
David, with his eyes still on the other, saw Father Roland start, as if
for an instant he had forgotten where he was. The Missioner looked his
way, and straightened his shoulders slowly, with a smile on his lips
that was strained and wan as the smile of one worn out by an arduous
toil.
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