Page 279 - swanns-way

that, had I done so, those two steeples would have vanished
for ever, in a great medley of trees and roofs and scents and
sounds which I had noticed and set apart on account of the
obscure sense of pleasure which they gave me, but without
ever exploring them more fully. I got down from the box to
talk to my parents while we were waiting for the Doctor to
reappear. Then it was time to start; I climbed up again to my
place, turning my head to look back, once more, at my stee-
ples, of which, a little later, I caught a farewell glimpse at a
turn in the road. The coachman, who seemed little inclined
for conversation, having barely acknowledged my remarks,
I was obliged, in default of other society, to fall back on my
own, and to attempt to recapture the vision of my steeples.
And presently their outlines and their sunlit surface, as
though they had been a sort of rind, were stripped apart; a
little of what they had concealed from me became apparent;
an idea came into my mind which had not existed for me
a moment earlier, framed itself in words in my head; and
the pleasure with which the first sight of them, just now,
had filled me was so much enhanced that, overpowered by a
sort of intoxication, I could no longer think of anything but
them. At this point, although we had now travelled a long
way from Martinville, I turned my head and caught sight
of them again, quite black this time, for the sun had mean-
while set. Every few minutes a turn in the road would sweep
them out of sight; then they shewed themselves for the last
time, and so I saw them no more.
Without admitting to myself that what lay buried within
the steeples of Martinville must be something analogous to

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