Carey, who had disappeared all afternoon on some private business, now came on deck and stood by the bulwarks looking at the sunset. Hugh joined him, and together they watched the riot of crimson and saffron in the sky k****e the olive-green forests till the tree-tops glowed like jewels. The marshes which fringed the lake were caught up into the pageant and smouldered with strange fires of tawny gold.
Carey drew a long breath. “It is Antony’s dream come true,” he said. “See, there are all the elements—the fantastic clouds,
‘The forkéd mountain and blue promontory.’
Look, now, for you will see the colours wiped clean out of the world as the sun dips.”
It happened as he said, for it seemed as if a great curtain were suddenly let down upon the landscape. The light and colour ran out of th
