ere.'

He dragged himself together and stepped to her side. They formed as it
were a little world to themselves, being completely ensphered by the fog,
which here was dense as a sea of milk. Below was neither town, country,
nor cathedral--simply whiteness, into which the iron legs of their
gigantic perch faded to nothing.

'We have lost our labour; there is no prospect for you, after all, Lord
Mountclere,' said Ethelberta, turning her eyes upon him. He looked at
her face as if there were, and she continued, 'Listen; I hear sounds from
the town: people's voices, and carts, and dogs, and the noise of a
railway-train. Shall we now descend, and own ourselves disappointed?'

'Whenever you choose.'

Before they had put their intention in practice there appeared to be
reasons for waiting awhile. Out of the plain of fog beneath, a stone
tooth seemed to be upheaving itself: then another showed forth. These
were the summits of the St. Romain and the Butter Towers--at the western
end of the building. As the fog stratum collapsed other summits
manifested their presence further off--among them the two spires and
lantern of St. Ouen's; when to the left the dome of St. Madeline's caught
a first ray from the peering sun, under which its scaly surface glittered
like a fish. Then the mist rolled off in earnest, and revealed far
beneath them a whole city, its red, blue, and grey roofs forming a
variegated pattern, small and subdued as that of a pavement in mosaic.
Eastward in the spacious outlook lay the hill of St. Catherine, breaking
intrusively into the large level valley of the Seine; south was the river
which had been the parent of the mist, and the Ile Lacroix, gorgeous in
scarlet, purple, and green. On the western horizon could be dimly
discerned melancholy forests, and further to the right stood the hill and
rich groves of Boisguillaume.

Ethelberta having now done looking around, the descent was begun and
continued without intermission till they came to the passage behind the
parapet.

Ethelberta was about to step airily forward, when there reached her ear
the voices of persons below. She recognized as one of them the slow
unaccented tones of Neigh.

'Please wait a minute!' she said in a peremptory manner of confusion
sufficient to attract Lord Mountclere's attention.

A recollection had sprung to her mind in a moment. She had half made an
appointment with Neigh at her aunt's hotel for this very week, and here