A silly priest once said to Mark that it was not meet to write
Scripture over the grave of a beast. But Mark said warily that an
inscription was for those who read it, to make them humble, and not to
increase the pride of what lay below.
When Mark could leave his bed, his first care was to send for
builders, and the old tower of Nort was taken down, stone by stone, to
the ground, and a fair chapel built on the site; in the wall there was
a secret stairway, which led from the top chamber, and came out among
the elder-bushes that grew below the tower, and here was found a
coffer of gold, which paid for the church; because, until it was
found, it was Mark's design to leave the place desolate. Mark is
wedded since, and has his children about his knee; those who come to
the house see a strange and wan man, who sits at Mark's board, and
whom he uses very tenderly; sometimes this man is merry, and tells a
long tale of his being beckoned and led by a tall and handsome person,
smiling, down a hillside to fetch gold; though he can never remember
the end of the matter; but about the springtime he is silent or
mutters to himself: and this is Roland; his spirit seems shut up
within him in some close cell, and Mark prays for his release, but
till God call him, he treats him like a dear brother, and with the
reverence due to one who has looked out on the other side of Death,
and who may not say what his eyes beheld.