"Rupert? what Rupert?" asked Lord Mountfalcon, leaning down from
his horse.

"Rupert Gordon; I am Huldah Gordon, his bereaved mother!"

Then Mountfalcon removed his cap, alighted from his horse and bowed low
before Mother Huldah. "He died gloriously. He died trying to remove my
poor brother from danger," he said. "Now let me be as a son to you, for
sweet memory's sake."

[Illustration: CHARLEMAGNE BRINGS THE BABY TO MOTHER HULDAH]

Then they all wept softly, for even to hear of those battles and those
Silent Ones in the Kingdom of the Brave Souls was to behold the world
through tears. And the Princess Yolande alighted and kissed Mother
Huldah's hands and promised to visit her often.

So with many true words they parted at last, and Mother Huldah was left
alone with Tommie and the bags of gold and silver, which she took indoors
and then returned to scan the sky where now the white stars hung and a
thin half-circle of a moon. Tommie romped in the snow for the joy of
stretching his legs. After a while he said, "Listen, don't you hear
something, Mother Huldah?"

"I would I heard wings!" she cried.

"But I hear wings," said Tommie. "Watch! watch where the North
Star burns!"