judgment."

The woman let fall her veil, moved from me, and seated herself on a
crag above that cleft between mountain and creek, to which, when I
had first discovered the gold that the land nourished, the rain
from the clouds had given the rushing life of the cataract; but
which now, in the drought and the hush of the skies, was but a dead
pile of stones.

The litter now ascended the height: its bearers halted; a lean hand
tore the curtains aside, and Margrave descended leaning, this time,
not on the Black-veiled Woman, but on the White-robed Skeleton.

There, as he stood, the moon shone full on his wasted form; on his
face, resolute, cheerful, and proud, despite its hollowed outlines
and sicklied hues. He raised his head, spoke in the language
unknown to me, and the armed men and the litter bearers grouped
round him, bending low, their eyes fixed on the ground. The Veiled
Woman rose slowly and came to his side, motioning away, with a mute
sign, the ghastly form on which he leaned, and passing round him
silently, instead, her own sustaining arm. Margrave spoke again a
few sentences, of which I could not even guess the meaning. When
he had concluded, the armed men and the litter bearers came nearer
to his feet, knelt down, and kissed his hand. They then rose, and
took from the bierlike vehicle the coffer and the fuel. This done,
they lifted again the litter, and again, preceded by the armed men,
the procession descended down the sloping hillside, down into the
valley below.

Margrave now whispered, for some moments, into the ear of the