She raised her lips to his as they stood together before the statue of Ceres, whose maternal countenance seemed to smile down benignly upon them despite their words concerning the Deity.
There was one other witness to that kiss; a man of middle-age with thick waving hair and beard of chestnut brown, who came forth from the house and, unobserved, stood with arms outstretched toward the two as if pronouncing a benediction.
CHAPTER XXIX.
After Twenty Years.
“How terrible is time! his solemn years,
The tombs of all our hopes and all our fears,
In silent horror roll! the gorgeous throne,
The pillared arch, the monumental stone,
Melt in swift ruin; and of mighty climes,
Where Fame told tales of virtues and of crimes,
Where Wisdom taught, and Valor woke to strife,