She knew well enough that religion was as
necessary to him in some shape as to herself.
Already a pageant of winter sunset began to unfold fantastic sheaves of
splendor, and over the horizon line of the western moors the air was
wondrously clear. It faded to intense white light where the uplands cut it,
while, above, the background of the sky was a pure beryl gradually burning
aloft into orange. Here waves of fire beat over golden shores and red
clouds extended as an army in regular column upon column. At the zenith,
billows of scarlet leaped in feathery foam against a purple continent and
the flaming tide extended from reef to reef among a thousand aerial bays
and estuaries of alternating gloom and glow until shrouded and dimmed in an
orange tawny haze of infinite distance. In the immediate foreground of this
majestic display, like a handful of rose-leaves fallen out of heaven, small
clouds floated directly downward, withering to blackness as they neared the
earth and lost the dying fires. Beneath the splendor of the sky the land
likewise flamed, the winding roadways glimmered, and many pools and ditches
reflected back the circumambient glory of the air.
In a few more minutes, Mary and Joe reached Sancreed churchyard and soon
stood beside the grave of Joan Tregenza.
"The grass won't close proper till the spring come," said Mary; "then the
turf will grow an' make it vitty; an' uncle's gwaine to set up a good slate
stone wi' the name an' date an' some verses.
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