wo things that have stirred or affected
me much. That cathedral is a whole liturgy in stone--eloquent, devout
stone,--uttering so solemnly its great unfinished God-service of silent
prayer and praise through all these centuries. I have seen many
beautiful churches, but was never impressed by any as by this huge
fragment of one.

My father, as I have written you, stayed behind, saying that he would
follow us. He has not done so yet, and I do not expect that he will, for
reasons which I will not repeat, as I gave them to you in a long letter
which I wrote to you from Liege, which I heartily hope you have
received.

[On arriving at Coblentz on a brilliant afternoon, so much of lovely
daylight yet remained that I was most desirous to cross the river
and ascend the great fortress of the Broad Stone of Honor, to see
the sunset from its walls. I could not inspire anybody else with the
same zeal, however; and, under the combined influence of
disappointment and eager curiosity, started alone, at a brisk walk,
and, crossing the bridge, began the ascent, and, gradually
quickening my pace as I neared the summit, arrived, on a full run,
breathless before the sentinel who guarded the last gates and
amiably shook his head at my attempt to enter. The gates were open,
and I saw, across the wide parade-ground, or _place d'armes_, where
groups of soldiers were standing and loitering about, the parapet
wall of the fortress, whence I had hoped to see the day go down over
the Rhine, the Moselle, and all the glorious region round their
confluence. "Oh, _do_ let me in," cried I in very emphatic English
to the sentry, who gravely shook his head. "Where is your father?"
quoth he in German, as I made imploring and impatient gestures,
significant of my despair at the idea of having had that stupendous
climb all for nothing. "I have none," cried I, in English and French
all in a breath. Both were equally Greek to him. He gravely shook
his head. "Where is your husband?" quoth he in German, to which I
replied in German--oh, such German!--that "I had none, that I was a
woman" (which he probably saw), "only a woman, an Englishwoman"
(which he probably heard), "and that I could do no harm to his
fortress; that I had come all alone, and run half the way up, and
that I could not turn back, and he _must_ let me in!" He still shook
his head gravely.