noon before
Yet as I watched the mist slowly rise , there grew in me the feeling that there lay the end of my quest . I came down to the brook , bathed my face and hands , ate my frugal breakfast of bread , with berries picked from the hillside , and , as the yellow light of the rising sun broke over the promontory , I saw the Tall Calvary upon a knoll , strange comrade to the huge rocks and monoliths -- as it were vast playthings of the Mighty Men , the fabled ancestors of the Indian races of the land . I started up the valley , and presently all the earth grew blithe , and the birds filled the woods and valleys with jocund noise . It was near noon before I knew that my pilgrimage was over . Coming round a point of rock , I saw the Gray Monk , of whom strange legends had lately travelled to the city . I took off my hat to him reverently ; but all at once he threw back his cowl , and I saw -- no monk , but , much altered , the good chaplain who had married me to Alixe in the Chateau St. Louis . He had been hurt when he was fired upon in the water ; had escaped , however , got to shore , and made his way into the woods .