ast upon the rocks above a torrent that went thundering down the mighty
gorge which it had cloven itself between the hills. Thence I looked
down a long, wavering valley over which the rays of the evening sun
were slanting, and hazily in the distance I could see the russet city
of Fornovo which I had earlier passed that day. This torrent was the
Bagnanza, and it effectively barred all passage. So I went up, along its
bed, scrambling over lichened rocks or sinking my feet into carpets of
soft, yielding moss.

At length, grown weary and uncertain of my way, I sank down to rest and
think. And my thoughts were chiefly of that hermit somewhere above me
in these hills, and of the blessedness of such a life, remote from the
world that man had made so evil. And then, with thinking of the world,
came thoughts of Giuliana. Two nights ago I had held her in my arms. Two
nights ago! And already it seemed a century remote--as remote as all the
rest of that life of which it seemed a part. For there had been a break
in my existence with the murder of Fifanti, and in the past two days I
had done more living and I had aged more than in all the eighteen years
before.

Thinking of Giuliana, I evoked her image, the glowing, ruddy copper of
her hair, the dark mystery of her eyes, so heavy-lidded and languorous
in their smile. My spirit conjured her to stand before me all white and
seductive as I had known her, and my longings were again upon me like a
searing torture.

I fought them hard. I sought to shut that image out. But it abode to
mock me. And then faintly from the valley, borne upon the breeze that
came sighing through the fir-trees, rose the tinkle of an Angelus bell.

I fell upon my knees and prayed to the Mother of Purity for strength,
and thus I came once more to peace. That done I crept under the shelter
of a projecting rock, wrapped my cloak tightly about me, and lay down
upon the hard ground to rest, for I was very weary.

Lying there I watched the colour fading from the sky. I saw the purple
lights in the east turn to an orange that paled into faintest yellow,
and this again into turquoise. The shadows crept up those heights. A
star came out overhead, then another, then a score of stars to sparkle
silvery in the blue-black heavens.

I turned on my side, and closed my eyes, seeking to sleep; and then
quite suddenly I heard a sound of unutterable sweetness--a melody so
faint and subtle that it had none of the form and rhyth