"Why, what do you mean, father?" asked Lucy.
"Just what I said, my dear. It is thought to be quite proper to kiss the toe of the statue of St. Peter. I don't know how the fashion started, but, at any rate, I believe thousands upon thousands of people have knelt before the statue and done that very thing. You can see the marks of it for yourself."
After St. Peter had been duly examined, Mr. Gray proposed that a visit should be made to the wonderful dome.
"But there are a good many stairs to climb. Do you think, wife, that you will be able to mount them?"
"If the little girls can do it, I am sure that I can," replied Mrs. Gray, as she turned to Tessa and Lucy. It was quite easy to see by their smiles and nods that they were eager to try it.
"Then let us start at once," said her husband, beckoning to a guide to show the way.
They passed through a door in the side of the church, and entered a passage which wound round and round, yet up and still up, till they reached a balcony around the foot of the dome. The stairway by which they had come was so broad and rose so gradually that one could easily mount it on horseback.
"Many a person has ridden to the top on a donkey," the guide told the children, which amused them very much.
As they looked down from the balcony, the people in the body of the church seemed like tiny dolls, they were so far below.
"But this is not all," said Mr. Gray. "As soon as you stop panting, we will go higher yet."