Within, as without, all was utter death-like silence.
She shivered, and drew her cloak more closely round her, as she
stood at the gate; for the healthy blood was running rapidly through
her veins after her brisk walk, and the deadly cold damp air from
the church struck her with a shudder, which was but the physical
complement of the moral impression produced by the aspect of the
place.
After a minute, however, wondering at the stillness, half frightened
at the utter solitude, and awed by the vast gloomy grandeur of the
naked but venerable building, she pushed the gate, and entered.
CHAPTER IV
Father Fabiano
Paolina entered hesitatingly, and starting at the echoes of her
footsteps on the flagstones, wet and green, and slimy from the
water, which often in every year lies many inches deep on the floor
of the church. She advanced towards a small marble altar which
stands quite isolated in the middle of the huge nave. And as she
neared it she perceived, with a violent start, that there was a
living figure kneeling at it. So still, so utterly motionless had
this solitary worshipper been, so little visible in the dim light
was the hue of the Franciscan's frock that entirely covered him,
that Paolina had not imagined that there had been any living
creature in the church. She saw, however, in the same instant that
she became aware of his presence, that the figure was that of a
Capucin friar, and doubted not that he must be the guardian of the
church, whom she had been told she would find there.
Pages:
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44