"Look! He's touched me...! Look...!"
For in that instant when the rose swung out of reach again, in that
instant when she touched it, and before the fading light hid
everything--all saw the petal floating down to earth. It settled
slowly, with a zigzag, butterfly course, fluttering close in front of
their enchanted eyes. And it was this petal, perhaps, that brought the
darkness, for, as it sank, it grew vast and spread until it covered
the entire sky. Like a fairy silken sheet of softest coloured velvet
it lay on everything, as though the heavens lowered and folded over
them. They felt it press softly on their faces. A curtain, it seemed--
some one had let the curtain down.
Beneath it, then, the confusion became extraordinary. There was tumult
of various kinds. Every one cried at once "I've found him! Now _I_
know!" At the touch of the petal, grown so vast, upon their eyelids,
each knew his "sign" had led him to the supreme discovery. This flower
was born of the travail of a universe. Child of the elements, or at
least blessed by them, this petal of a small wild-rose made all things
clear, for upon its velvet skin still lay the morning dew, air kissed
it, its root and origin was earth, and the fire of the sun blazed in
its perfect colouring.
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