The edges of
this chasm were faintly bronzed, but the dense body of the masses that
hung piled on each side of her, was black and inpenetrable to sight. In
no other point of the heavens was there any part of the sky visible;
a deep veil of clouds overhung the whole horizon, yet was the light
sufficient to give occasional glimpses of the rapid shifting which took
place in this dark canopy, and of the tempestuous agitation with which
the midnight storm swept to and fro beneath it.
At length I arrived at a long slated house, situated in a solitary part
of the neighborhood; a little below it ran a small stream, which was
now swollen above its banks, and rushing with mimic roar over the flat
meadows beside it. The appearance of the bare slated building in such
a night was particularly sombre, and to those, like me, who knew the
purpose to which it was usually devoted, it was or ought to have been
peculiarly so. There it stood, silent and gloomy, without any appearance
of human life or enjoyment about or within it. As I approached, the moon
once more had broken out of the clouds, and shone dimly upon the wet,
glittering slates and windows, with a death-like lustre, that gradually
faded away as I left the point of observation, and entered the
folding-door. It was the parish chapel.
The scene which presented itself here was in keeping not only with the
external appearance of the house, but with the darkness, the storm, and
the hour, which was now a little after midnight.
Pages:
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160