The Argosy (Volume 62) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1896. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... them? Or did he live, a solitary being, in one of the surrounding hermitages? Whilst we looked, he slowly turned, and with bent head and lingering steps, as though in deep contemplation, passed out of sight . Nothing remained but the empty doorway with a vision of arches beyond; a few ruined walls stained with the marks of centuries, to which patches of moss and drooping creepers and hardy ferns added grace and charm. We were alone, surrounded by intense quiet and repose. Sunshine was over all, casting deep shadows. No sound disturbed the stillness; not even the echo of the monk's receding footsteps. So silent and motionless had been his coming and going we asked ourselves whether he was in truth flesh and blood or a midday visitor from the land of shadows. How remote, how out of the world it all was Suddenly, as we looked upwards, an eagle took majestic flight from one of the mountain peaks, and hovering in the blue ether, seemed seeking for prey. But it was not the time of the lambs, and with a long sweeping wing it passed across the valley to an opposite range of hills, unsatisfied. The great church was before us with its dome, of Roman design and sufficiently commonplace. But after all, what mattered? Its effects and those of the hideous Hospederia were lost in their wonderful surroundings; seeming but as a drop of water to the ocean. On entering the church this comparison disappeared. There was an expanse about its aisles, a largeness and breadth in the highdomed roof, that produced a certain dignity, yet without grace and refinement. No magic and mystery surrounded them, and the dim religious light was the result not of rich stained glass admitting prismatic streams, but of an obscurity cast by the shadows of Mons Serratus. For great effects one had to go...