They went forward singing, for a little way. Their hands were lightly
clasped. The girl skipped and danced beside him; and though he walked
sedately, his heart sang and danced with hers.
Then he felt a damp chill in the air, and Anne drew closer to his side,
and she no longer danced.
At first he did not understand; but when he looked about them, and then
up into the skies, he saw the misty Cloud, The Threat....
He had forgotten the very existence of this Cloud; and he rebelled
furiously at its coming now. But it paid no heed to him. It hung not
over his strong head, but over the head of Anne, his wife.
Anne saw him looking up at it, and she lifted her head to see what he
had seen; but he drew her eyes quickly away so that she should not
understand, and with ice at his heart he went forward, watching the
thing above them.
He began to reach upward, behind Anne’s back, and try to thrust The
Threat away; but it was beyond his reach. It hung relentlessly above
Anne’s head, and he could not touch it. He strove, he stood on tiptoe,
he pleaded....
Anne turned and saw him; and she dropped her hand on his arm and
reassured him. But when he looked into her eyes, he saw the reflection
of The Threat there.
Nevertheless, they went bravely forward, shoulders touching; and when
presently the Cloud descended and cloaked them so that he could not see
Anne, he still held her hand, and they spoke to each other through the
shadows.
Then the Cloud lifted, and when Barnard looked down, he saw a little
child walking by Anne’s side, holding her hand.
He forgot The Threat in the air above them, and took the other hand of
the child, and hurried forward....
V
Thereafter, the threatening Cloud was never out of their sight. At times
it hung low above them, at times its cold fingers touched them; and in
the intervals it rode high above their heads, distant, but relentless.
His dream was a constant apprehension; he kept a persistent vigil
against The Threat, even while his heart told him it was a hopeless one.
When the Cloud hung low above them, he cast his arms about Anne and the
child until the mists lifted again. Once, when this happened, and when
they started forward once more, he found that not one boy-child, but two
walked between Anne and him. Their hands were clasped, and Anne held the
hand of one, and he of the other, so that they four went forward
together, each helping each.
Their path was rocky and beset. The Threat never left them; and stones
rose to trip them, and thorny bushes clutched at them from either
side....