So years and years fled by, but there was no change in the Village of
Youth. It was always summer and always daylight. In the success of
Beryl's scheme the King found the dearest wish of his heart gratified.
His face regained its former beauty, and his manner its old charm. But
at length, although he would not breathe the fact aloud, the unending
season began to pall upon him.
Always summer and always daylight! His wedding-day would never come, for
the present time would never pass. At length the sun grew hateful to
him. He longed for night, and he gazed with agony upon the face of his
ever-youthful love. When he walked through the gardens he prayed that
the flowers might wither. He was weary of seeing them always the same,
shedding the same scent on the air, never less, never more. The lark
soaring upwards sang the same song of liberty and hope all through the
unending day. No change in the Village of Youth, young for ever.
The Princess, however, felt differently. A maiden wants so little to
make her happy. The eternal day was not long to her; her King was with
her through its everlasting hours, and summer would never leave them and
their love would never die. Had she only known whether Beryl was safe,
her mind would have been quite at rest.
Meeting her Lord one day in the palace gardens, she read the agony in
his face; and after listening to his plaints, she gently, though
fearlessly, reprimanded him.
"Methinks, dear love, that we shall all be punished yet for thy
discontent. Thou art placed upon the throne of a great kingdom as its
sovereign. Thy subjects are true and loyal. Thy betrothed, as is well
known, is neither clever enough nor good enough to fill the high post
for which thou hast selected her; but she loves thee, and would lay down
her life for thee without regret. She sends her favourite maiden on a
quest which is fraught with much danger; on the accomplishment of that
mission thy happiness depends. It succeeds; but the royal attendant does
not return. Time visits the Village of Youth no more; and yet thou
dwellest in its vernal freshness, ill-content."
"Thou hast good cause to reproach me, dear one, erring only when thou
dost affirm that she whom I love is not worthy to be my Queen. Were I
but fit to tie her sandal or kiss the hem of her robe, I were glad
indeed."
[Illustration]
He took her in his arms and pressed her to his heart, while the hot sun
beat down upon the weary village.
It was thus that Beryl returned to her sovereign's kingdom, on the same
day and at the same hour she had left it, though the world was older by
forty years. She walked through the streets, a bent, grey-haired woman.
Everywhere smiling youth met her gaze. Little children had remained
little. They gathered round her, pulling at her dress, and gazing
wonderingly into her lined and worn face.
"Where art thou going, good dame?" a girl inquired.
"To the palace. I wish to see the King."
"In good sooth, they will never admit thee into the palace; and did his
majesty know that thou wert in the village he would have thee conducted
thence."
"Ah, maiden! I know of his folly, which will be punished yet, rest
assured. I was once a girl like thee, had hair like thine, and smooth
white skin."
"That must have been a long time ago."
"It seems but as yesterday," said Beryl.
She dragged her tired limbs to the palace gates, and stood there, bent
and tottering. The guard who kept the door refused her admittance,
saying that his master would not allow the aged within the precincts of
the village; but the King happened to overhear the argument, and at once
gave orders to have the woman brought before him. Although she appeared
quite unknown to him, he fell upon her neck and embraced her, so wearied
was he of the perpetual youth around him. But when she told them who she
was, and her story, they greatly marvelled.
"Why didst thou leave the Palace of Time, dear Beryl?" asked Rowena.
"Sweet Princess, I learned to love the Spirit, forgetting how great, how
godlike he was. And little understanding the difference between us, I
grew unhappy because he never embraced me. What would you? I was but a
woman, still chained to earth, though the companion of an Immortal in
the courts of Eternity. I grew to believe that he did not love me; and
he, seeing sorrow in my face, thought that I longed to go back to the
world. I gave him my love, which was all I had of spiritual to give, and
he was happy; but I lived within his home ill-content. One night, when
he returned from his yearly circle, I threw my arms around him and
kissed him. All the palace shook, and he looked at me with strange,
wistful eyes. I felt tired and weak; and I remember nothing more until I
awoke, as from a long dream, and found that I was lying on the banks of
the stream yonder. I arose and washed in the river, and realised that
I was bent, and grey. Then I knew that the fault had been mine; his
unwilling lips had given me age, and taken my youth for ever."
[Illustration]
They led her within the palace, and she was clothed and fed. Rowena
looked at her, and marvelled. In the worn, faded face she tried to trace
some of the beauty that had been Beryl's; but all in vain. Once they
were of the same years, but now Beryl was old and the Princess was in
the springtime of life.
During the watches of the night the aged woman heard the wings of Time
sweeping through the silent village. Hurrying from the palace, she
stretched out her arms to him in mute entreaty.
There was a tone of sorrow in his voice as he cried, "Too late--too
late; only Youth with its beacon-light of Hope can stay the flying feet
of Time!"
Morning came in the full glory of the risen sun, but the Village of
Youth was no more. It was as a dream that had passed. Again old age
gossiped in the streets and sat serene at its board of council. The King
bowed his head, and accepted his punishment with a dignified humility.
In the autumn of his life he found joy his youth had never known. He
became wise in judgment, patient in sorrow, and was beloved by all his
subjects. In latter years his kingdom grew large and prosperous, and it
was no longer known as the Village of Youth, but was called the City of
Content.
[Illustration]