he moved;
and wrapping his robe about him--for it grew chill in the church--he
thought of what had been and what should be. The time flew fast; and
presently Renatus heard the great bell ring the hour of midnight; so
he knelt and prayed again, with all his might, that God would bless
him and open his eyes.

Then he rose again to his feet; and now the moon was risen and made a
very pure and tender radiance through one of the high windows; and
Renatus, looking about him, was conscious of a thrill of fear that
passed through him, as though there were some great presence near him
in the gloom; then his eyes fell on a little door on his right,
opposite to the door by which they had entered, which he knew led out
into the castle court; but underneath the door, between it and the
sill, there gleamed a line of very golden light, such as might come
from a fire without. The Prince had no foolish terrors, as he was by
nature courageous, and the holy place that he was in made him feel
secure. But the light, which now began to grow in clearness, and to
stream, like a rippling flow of brightness, into the church, surprised
him exceedingly. So he rose up and went to the little door, expecting
that he would find it closed; but it opened to his hand.

He had thought to see the dark court of the castle as he had often
seen it, with its tall chimneys and battlements, and with lights in
the windows. But to his amazement he saw that he was on the edge of a
vast and dizzy space, so vast that he had not thought there could be
anything in the world so great. The church and he seemed to float
together in the space, for the solid earth was all gone--and it came
into his head that the great building in which he stood, so fair and
high, was no larger than a mote that swims in the strong beams of the
sun. The space was all misty and dim at first, but over it hung a
light like the light of dawn, that seemed to gush from a place in the
cloud, near at hand and yet leagues away. Then as his sight became
more used to the place, he saw that it was all sloping upwards and
downwards, and built up of great steps or stairs, that ran across the
space and were lost at last in cloud; and that the light came from the
head of the steps. Then with a sudden shock of surprise he saw that
there were persons kneeling on the steps; and every moment his sight
became clearer and clearer, so that he could see the persons nearest
to him, their robes and hands, and even t