Amazed, bewildered, they are gathered...

Amazed, bewildered, they are gathered around him, whose pondered resolution comes to rest, withdrawing him from all the ties that bound him--a stranger gliding by with thoughts unguessed. He feels that former loneliness drawn near in which the deep command was comprehended; again the olive slope shall be ascended, and those that love him shall depart in fear. To the last meal of all they’ve been invited; and (as a shot will scare some new-alighted flock from the wheat) their feeding hands, affrighted from the detail portions by his prophecy, fly up to him and flutter in despair round the round table to escape. But he, like the still twilight hour, is everywhere.