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Page 87
"The road winds along this defile; it rises, falls, turns, sometimes
tolerably level, sometimes broken and abrupt, according to the thousand
irregularities of the ground. Grey rocks almost meet in an arch overhead,
others stand wide apart, leaving the distant blue visible, and
discovering sombre and melancholy-looking depths, and rows of firs
as far as the eye could reach.
"The Reuss flows along the bottom, sometimes leaping along in waterfalls,
then creeping through thickets, or steaming, foaming, and thundering over
precipices, while the echoes prolong the tumult and roar of its torrents
in one immense endless hum. Since I left Tubingen the weather had
continued fine; but when I reached the summit of this gigantic staircase,
about two leagues distant from the little hamlet of Novisaigne, I
suddenly noticed great grey clouds begin passing overhead, which soon
filled up the defile entirely; this vapour was so dense that it soon
penetrated my clothes as a heavy dew would have done.
"Although it was only two in the afternoon, the sky became clouded over
as if darkness was coming on; and I foresaw a heavy storm was about to
break over my head.
"I consequently began looking about for shelter, and I saw through one
of those wide openings which afford you a perspective view of the Alps,
about two or three hundred yards distant on the slope leading down to
the lake, an ancient-looking grey ch�let, moss-covered, with its small
round windows and sloping roof loaded with large stones, its stairs
outside the house, with a carved rail, and its basket-shaped balcony,
on which the Swiss maidens generally hang their snowy linen and
scarlet petticoats to dry.
"Precisely as I was looking down, a tall woman in a black cap was folding
and collecting the linen which was blowing about in the wind.
"To the left of this building a very large apiary supported on beams,
arranged like a balcony, formed a projection above the valley.
"You may easily believe that without the loss of a moment I set off
bounding through the heather to seek for shelter from the coming storm,
and well it was I lost no time, for I had hardly laid my hand on the
handle of the door before the hurricane burst furiously overhead; every
gust of wind seemed about to carry the cottage bodily away; but its
foundations were strong, and the security of the good people within,
by the warmth of their reception, completely reassured me about the
probability of any accident.
"The cottage was inhabited by Walter Young, his wife Catherine, and
little Raesel, their only daughter.
"I remained three days with them; for the wind, which went down about
midnight, had so filled the valley of Neufchatel with mist, that the
mountain where I had taken refuge was completely enveloped in it; it was
impossible to walk twenty yards from the door without experiencing great
difficulty in finding it again.
"Every morning these good people would say, when they saw me buckle on my
knapsack--
"'What are you about, Mr. Hennetius? You cannot mean to go yet; you will
never arrive anywhere. In the name of Heaven stay here a little longer!'
"And Young would open the door and exclaim--
"'Look there, sir; you must be tired of your life to risk it among these
rocks. Why, the dove itself would be troubled to find the ark again in
such a mist as this.'
"One glance at the mountain side was enough for me to make up my mind to
put my stick back again in the corner.
"Walter Young was a man of the old times. He was nearly sixty; his grand
head wore a calm and benevolent expression--a real Apostle's head. His
wife, who always wore a black silk cap, pale and thoughtful, resembled
him much in disposition. Their two profiles, as I looked at them defined
sharply against the little panes of glass in the chalet's windows,
recalled to my mind those drawings of Albert Durer the sight of which
carried me back to the age of faith and the patriarchal manners of the
fifteenth century. The long brown rafters of the ceiling, the deal table,
the ashen chairs with the carved backs, the tin drinking-cups, the
sideboard with its old-fashioned painted plates and dishes, the crucifix
with the Saviour carved in box on an ebony cross, and the worm-eaten
clock-case with its many weights and its porcelain dial, completed the
illusion.
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