CHAPTER XI

THE THING THAT THINKS

stateliness of the great arch, still hand
in hand and silent. They walked

 

softly, almost as if they felt them-
selves treading upon holy ground. To their youth
and unworn souls it was like holy ground. They had
so dreamed of it, they had so longed for it, it had
been so mingled in their minds with the story of a
city not of this world.

And they stood within the court beyond the arch-
way, the fair and noble colonnade, its sweep of
columns statue-crowned behind them, the wonder
of the City Beautiful spread before. The water of
blue lagoons lapped the bases of white palaces as
if with a caress of homage to their beauty. On
every side these marvels stood, everywhere there
was the green of sward and broad-leaved plants,
the sapphire of water, the flood of colour and human

life passing by, and above it all and enclosing it,
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