The Peasants Sat Outside Their Houses In The Twilight Accepting The Cool Air; Every One Spoke To Me As I Marched Through, And I Answered Them All, Nor Was There In Any Of Their Salutations The Omission Of Good Fellowship Or Of The Name Of God.

Saving with one man, who was a sergeant of artillery on leave, and who cried out to me in

An accent that was very familiar and asked me to drink; but I told him I had to go up into the forest to take advantage of the night, since the days were so warm for walking. As I left the last house of the village I was not secure from loneliness, and when the road began to climb up the hill into the wild and the trees I was wondering how the night would pass.

With every step upward a greater mystery surrounded me. A few stars were out, and the brown night mist was creeping along the water below, but there was still light enough to see the road, and even to distinguish the bracken in the deserted hollows. The highway became little better than a lane; at the top of the hill it plunged under tall pines, and was vaulted over with darkness. The kingdoms that have no walls, and are built up of shadows, began to oppress me as the night hardened. Had I had companions, still we would only have spoken in a whisper, and in that dungeon of trees even my own self would not raise its voice within me.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 26 of 361
Words from 6881 to 7141 of 97758