e water, almost indistinguishable from cloud, when a great
indentation in the cliff made its edge sweep in towards him; and once
a ship's light flashed out of it for half a second. He swung along
steadily, and after a time found himself traversing a great, dusky
stretch of land. He had the feeling of crawling over it like an
insect, so vast was his sense of this flat earth; he seemed just a bit
of it moving on it and thinking about it, as if it had attained
through him to consciousness of itself!

He fell into a slow saunter, philosophic fancies coming to interweave
themselves with his thoughts; and, when he awoke again from a long
reverie, the road had grown narrow, rough and stony. He stumbled along
till at length he again made out the castle in the distance, perched
on its sombre eminence, just a flat silhouette against a lighter
greyish sky.

The road dipped between two slopes that cut off the view, and, when he
had passed them, the battlemented silhouette seemed to show deeper and
the sky lighter. The morn was approaching.

Imperceptibly the darkness thinned. A quiet feeling of holiness was in
the air. The stretch of common on either hand began to take on a shade
of brown, though the rare clumps of scattered bushes still showed dark
and solid. A fresh morning breeze came to him, scent-laden.

In some parts the clouds were lightening, melting, and as he came
again into full view of the sea, he saw its whole surface glistening
and of an indefinite colour. Sometimes it struck him as a sort of
steely grey, sometimes it flashed upon him as a vague, elusive green.
It was almost light now, and he could see the landscape distinct and
wonderfully sharp-cut. A minute later he was almost sure that the sea
was green, and, to his surprise, he became aware of luminous blue bars
among the clouds. There was a lovely piece of green, too, with orange
streaks in it. Then there came a full flood of mystic pink, and the
water was one laughing sparkle. He drew deep breaths of the air and
gloried in the dawn.

The pure, sweet dawn, to him symbolic of Resurrection and Life!

Though tired now, he still lingered, strolling at ease down to the
town again and lounging on the beach and in the harbour. When, in the
end, he arrived at the coffee-house where he had taken his lodging he
found it already open, and porters and sailors were taking their
early-morning coffee.

He threw himself across his bed and slept soundly till mid-day.