Chapter 8
The BellIN the narrow streets of a large town people often heard
in the evening, when the sun was setting, and his last rays gave a
golden tint to the chimney-pots, a strange noise which resembled
the sound of a church bell; it only lasted an instant, for it was
lost in the continual roar of traffic and hum of voices which rose
from the town. "The evening bell is ringing," people used to say;
"the sun is setting!" Those who walked outside the town, where the
houses were less crowded and interspersed by gardens and little
fields, saw the evening sky much better, and heard the sound of the
bell much more clearly. It seemed as though the sound came from a
church, deep in the calm, fragrant wood, and thither people looked
with devout feelings.
A considerable time elapsed
