The smoke-wreaths change under the
gazer's eye into hovering angels, who float round the head of the
Saviour, and look down with awe upon the first Eucharist; while the
lamp-light, interpenetrated by the glory which issues from the Lord,
searches every face and fold and surface, displays the figures of the
serving men and women in the background, shines on the household stuff,
the vases and plates, the black and white of the marble floor, the beams
of the old Venetian ceiling. Everywhere the double ray, the two-fold
magic! Steeped in these "majesties of light," the immortal scene lives
upon the quiet wall. Year after year the slender, thought-worn Christ
raises His hands of blessing; the disciples strain towards Him; the
angels issue from the darkness; the friendly domestic life, happy,
natural, unconscious, frames the divine mystery. And among those who
come to look there are, from time to time, men and women who draw from
it that restlessness of vague emotion which Kitty felt as she hung now,
gazing, on Ashe's arm.
For there is in it an appeal which torments them--like the winding of a
mystic horn, on purple heights, by some approaching and unseen
messenger.
Pages:
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454