The nearer they approached, the plainer he saw the child which the woman bore on her arm outlined under the raised robe. "I'm positive it is the one who got away last night. I didn't see her face, but I recognize the tall figure. And here she comes now, with the child on her arm, and without even trying to keep it concealed. I had not dared to hope for such a lucky chance," said the soldier to himself.
The man and woman continued their rapid pace all the way to the city gate. Evidently, they had not anticipated being intercepted here. They trembled with fright when the soldier leveled his spear at them, and barred their passage.
"Why do you refuse to let us go out in the fields to our work?" asked the man.
"You may go presently," said the soldier, "but first I must see what your wife has hidden behind her robe."
"What is there to see?" said the man. "It is only bread and wine, which we must live upon to-day."
"You speak the truth, perchance," said the soldier, "but if it is as you say, why does she turn away? Why does she not willingly let me see what she carries?"
"I do not wish that you shall see it," said the man, "and I command you to let us pass!"
With this he raised his ax, but the woman laid her hand on his arm.
"Enter thou not into strife!" she pleaded. "I will try some other way. I shall let him see what I bear, and I know that he can not harm it." With a proud and confident smile she turned toward the soldier, and threw back a fold of her robe.
Instantly the soldier staggered back and closed his eyes, as if dazed by a strong light. That which the woman held concealed under her robe reflected such a dazzling white light that at first he did not know what he saw.
"I thought you held a child on your arm," he said.
"You see what I hold," the woman answered.
Then the soldier finally saw that that which dazzled and shone was only a cluster of white lilies, the same kind that grew in the meadow; but their luster was much richer and more radiant. He could hardly bear to look at them.
He stuck his hand in among the flowers. He couldn't help thinking that it must be a child the woman carried, but he felt only the cool flower-petals.
He was bitterly deceived, and in his wrath he would gladly have taken both the man and the woman prisoners, but he knew that he could give no reason for such a proceeding.