Once more the undulation of the hymn reached him; once more the House of the Virgin appeared to him on the left amid the immense human swarm, reddish in the solar conflagration, throned on the summits of the profane tents, irradiating a formidable power.
Viva Maria!
Viva Maria!
The undulation faded away; and at a bend of the hill the Sanctuary disappeared. And, suddenly, a cool breath glided over the vast, waving harvests. And a long blue band cut the horizon.
"The sea! There's the sea!" cried George, as if he had just attained salvation.
And his heart dilated.
"Courage, my soul! Contemplate the sea!"
V.
TEMPUS DESTRUENDI.
CHAPTER I.
The table, laid in the loggia, presented a gay appearance, with its transparent porcelain, its bluish glassware, its crimson pinks, under the golden light of a fixed, large lamp, which attracted the nocturnal moths scattered in the twilight.