120 Lily and Water-Lily.

 

Slowly they floated beyond the marsh and over
the great lake; and the water was dank and dark
beneath, yet his brain did not reel; and the stars
were bright in the solemn blue of night overhead, yet
he was not dazzled, for the soft voice murmured in
his ear, and he was content.

And they rose and they rose upon the Wa air
till the water was far, far beneath them, and the stars
seemed very near. Michael had watched the familiar
spots upon the shore pass by below him one by one ;
he had even recognized the silver-domed belfry of
his own village church at Aigremont shining in the
moonlight against the hillside. He had known that
he was floating slowly past it and away from it, yet
he could not stop, and perhaps he would not even
have stopped if he could.

But at last the pretty fairy, who held his hand fast
in hers, and seemed to bear him so safely upon the
bosom of the mist—at last she blew upon a tiny reed
that she drew from her bosom, and there was a sound
of voices upon the air, and he saw that the cloud had

 

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