sed the
silent and insensible sleepers, the quiet mules which had stretched
themselves near the entrance of the place, and quitted the hut.

Without, the scene was wintry: but, as is usual in the Alps let what may
be the season, its features of grand and imposing sublimity were prominent
The day was among the peaks above them, while the shades of night still
lay upon the valleys, forming a landscape like that exquisite and poetical
picture of the lower world, which Guido has given in the celebrated
al-fresco painting of Aurora. The ravines and glens were covered with
snow, but the sides of the rugged rocks were bare in their eternal hue of
ferruginous brown. The little knoll on which the Refuge stood was also
nearly naked, the wind having driven the light particles of the snow into
the ravine of the path. The air of the morning is keen at that great
height even in midsummer, and the shivering girls drew their mantles about
them, though they breathed the clear, elastic, inspiring element with
pleasure. The storm was entirely past, and the pure sapphire-colored sky
was in lovely contrast with the shadows beneath, raising their thoughts
naturally to that heaven which shone in a peace and glory so much in
harmony with the ordinary images we shadow forth of the abode of the
blessed. Adelheid pressed the hand of Christine, and they knelt together,
bowing their heads to a rock. As fervent, pure, and sincere orisons
ascended to God, from these pious and innocent spirits, as it belongs to
poor mortality to offer.

This general, and in their peculiar situation especial, duty performed,
the gentle girls felt more assured. Relieved of a heavy and imperative
obligation, they ventured to look about them with greater confidence.
Another building, similar in form and material to that in which their
companions were still sleeping, stood on the same swell of rock, and their
first inquiries naturally took that direction. The entrance, or outlet to
this hut, was an orifice that resembled a window rather than a door. They
moved cautiously to the spot, looking into the gloomy, cavern-like room,
as timidly as the hare throws his regards about him before he ventures
from his cover. Four human forms were reposing deep in the vault, with
their backs sustained against the walls. They slept profoundly too, for
the curious but startled girls gazed at them long, and retired without
causing them to awake.

"We have not been alone on the mountain in