It was a large, square mansion,
distinguished from its neighbors by a balcony, which rested on tall
pillars, and by an elaborate Gothic window, communicating therewith.
"Perhaps this is the very house I have been seeking," thought
Robin.
Then he strove to speed away the time, by listening to a murmur
which swept continually along the street, yet was scarcely audible,
except to an unaccustomed ear like his; it was a low, dull, dreamy
sound, compounded of many noises, each of which was at too great a
distance to be separately heard. Robin marvelled at this snore of a
sleeping town, and marvelled more whenever its continuity was broken
by now and then a distant shout, apparently loud where it
originated. But altogether it was a sleep-inspiring sound, and, to
shake off its drowsy influence, Robin arose, and climbed a
window-frame, that he might view the interior of the church. There the
moonbeams came trembling in, and fell down upon the deserted pews, and
extended along the quiet aisles. A fainter yet more awful radiance was
hovering around the pulpit, and one solitary ray had dared to rest
upon the opened page of the great Bible. Had nature, in that deep
hour, become a worshipper in the house which man had builded? Or was
that heavenly light the visible sanctity of the place- visible because
no earthly and impure feet were within the walls? The scene made
Robin's heart shiver with a sensation of loneliness stronger than he
had ever felt in the remotest depths of his native woods; so he turned
away, and sat down again before the door.
Pages:
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33