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The surrounding hills glowed with a warm, deep violet tint, flecked here
and there with touches of bright red, as though fairies were lighting
tiny bonfires on their summits. Away in the distance a huge mass of rock
stood out to view, its rugged lines transfigured into ethereal
loveliness by a misty veil of tender rose pink,--a hue curiously
suggestive of some other and smaller sun that might have just set.
Absolute silence prevailed. Not even the cry of a sea-mew or kittiwake
broke the almost deathlike stillness,--no breath of wind stirred a
ripple on the glassy water. The whole scene might well have been the
fantastic dream of some imaginative painter, whose ambition soared
beyond the limits of human skill. Yet it was only one of those million
wonderful effects of sky and sea which are common in Norway, especially
on the Altenfjord, where, though beyond the Arctic circle, the climate
in summer is that of another Italy, and the landscape a living poem
fairer than the visions of Endymion.


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