Asked whether they
would have their hereditary Duke or the House of Savoy, voted for the
latter by such and such a great majority; and this kind of tablet I
afterwards found was common to all these small towns. Then passing
down their long street I came, at the farther gate, to a great sight,
which the twilight still permitted me to receive in its entirety.
For San Quirico is built on the edge of a kind of swell in the land,
and here where I stood one looked over the next great wave; for the
shape of the view was, on a vast scale, just what one sees from a
lonely boat looking forward over a following sea.
The trough of the wave was a shallow purple valley, its arid quality
hidden by the kindly glimmer of evening; few trees stood in it to
break its sweep, and its irregularities and mouldings were just those
of a sweep of water after a gale. The crest of the wave beyond was
seventeen miles away. It had, as have also such crests at sea, one
highest, toppling peak in its long line, and this, against the clear
sky, one could see to be marked by buildings. These buildings were the
ruined castle and walls of Radicofani, and it lay straight on my way
to Rome.
It is a strange thing, arresting northern eyes, to see towns thus
built on summits up into the sky, and this height seemed the more
fantastic because it was framed. A row of cypress trees stood on
either side of the road where it fell from San Quirico, and, exactly
between these, this high crest, a long way off, was set as though by
design.
With more heart in me, and tempted by such an outline as one might be
by the prospect of adventure, I set out to cross the great bare run of
the valley. As I went, the mountain of Amiato came more and more
nearly abreast of me in the west; in its foothills near me were
ravines and unexpected rocks; upon one of them hung a village. I
watched its church and one tall cypress next it, as they stood black
against the last of daylight. Then for miles I went on the dusty way,
and crossed by old bridges watercourses in which stood nothing but
green pools; and the night deepened.
It was when I had crossed the greater part of the obscure plain, at
its lowest dip and not far from the climb up to Radicofani, that I saw
lights shining in a large farmhouse, and though it was my business to
walk by night, yet I needed companionship, so I went in.
There in a very large room, floored with brick and lit by one candle,
were two fine old peasants, with faces like apostles, playing a game
of cards.
