The Rainbow - Page 75/493

Now He was declared to Brangwen and to Lydia Brangwen, as

they stood together. When at last they had joined hands, the

house was finished, and the Lord took up his abode. And they

were glad.

The days went on as before, Brangwen went out to his work,

his wife nursed her child and attended in some measure to the

farm. They did not think of each other-why should they? Only

when she touched him, he knew her instantly, that she was with

him, near him, that she was the gateway and the way out, that

she was beyond, and that he was travelling in her through the

beyond. Whither?--What does it matter? He responded always.

When she called, he answered, when he asked, her response came

at once, or at length.

Anna's soul was put at peace between them. She looked from

one to the other, and she saw them established to her safety,

and she was free. She played between the pillar of fire and the

pillar of cloud in confidence, having the assurance on her right

hand and the assurance on her left. She was no longer called

upon to uphold with her childish might the broken end of the

arch. Her father and her mother now met to the span of the

heavens, and she, the child, was free to play in the space

beneath, between.