But the slope of the ground was upward, and encouraged her; and
presently she issued on a rocky hill that stood forth above the sea
of forest. All around were other hill-tops, big and little; sable
vales of forest between; overhead the open heaven and the brilliancy
of countless stars; and along the western sky the dim forms of
mountains. The glory of the great night laid hold upon her; her
eyes shone with stars; she dipped her sight into the coolness and
brightness of the sky, as she might have dipped her wrist into a
spring; and her heart, at that ethereal shock, began to move more
soberly. The sun that sails overhead, ploughing into gold the
fields of daylight azure and uttering the signal to man's myriads,
has no word apart for man the individual; and the moon, like a
violin, only praises and laments our private destiny. The stars
alone, cheerful whisperers, confer quietly with each of us like
friends; they give ear to our sorrows smilingly, like wise old men,
rich in tolerance; and by their double scale, so small to the eye,
so vast to the imagination, they keep before the mind the double
character of man's nature and fate.
There sat the Princess, beautifully looking upon beauty, in council
with these glad advisers. Bright like pictures, clear like a voice
in the porches of her ear, memory re-enacted the tumult of the
evening: the Countess and the dancing fan, the big Baron on his
knees, the blood on the polished floor, the knocking, the swing of
the litter down the avenue of lamps, the messenger, the cries of the
charging mob; and yet all were far away and phantasmal, and she was
still healingly conscious of the peace and glory of the night.
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