Good Books

It was covered With
the incomprehensible emblems of a bygone creed worked in most exquisite
shell-patterns, but on it,--as though in solemn protest against the
past,--stood a crucifix of ebony and carved ivory, before which burned
steadily a red lamp.
The meaning of the mysterious light was thus explained, but what chiefly
interested Errington was the central object of the place,--a coffin,--of
rather a plain granite sarcophagus which was placed on the floor lying
from north to south. Upon it,--in strange contrast to the sombre
coldness of the stone,--reposed a large wreath of poppies freshly
gathered. The vivid scarlet of the flowers, the gleam of the shining
shells on the walls, the mournful figure of the ivory Christ stretched
on the cross among all those pagan emblems,--the intense silence broken
only by the slow drip, drip of water trickling somewhere behind the
cavern,--and more than these outward things,--his own impressive
conviction that he was with the imperial Dead--imperial because past the
sway of empire--all made a powerful impression on his mind.


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