Sacred allegories . wer to their song. Now, as Rhoda and Minna raised their eyes to thank him forhis gift and promise, they found they were alone. He had alreadyleft them, and was gone to the distant hills. The sisters stood for a little while, holding each other by thehand, and meditated in silence on the words they had heard. Theyhad thought first of all that it would be a very pleasant andeasy task to watch continually the glorious view that opened uponthem from the east, and to hope for their kind benefactors return ;and yet now they could not help trembling with an instinctivealarm at the
Sacred allegories . wer to their song. Now, as Rhoda and Minna raised their eyes to thank him forhis gift and promise, they found they were alone. He had alreadyleft them, and was gone to the distant hills. The sisters stood for a little while, holding each other by thehand, and meditated in silence on the words they had heard. Theyhad thought first of all that it would be a very pleasant andeasy task to watch continually the glorious view that opened uponthem from the east, and to hope for their kind benefactors return ;and yet now they could not help trembling with an instinctivealarm at the warning he had given them about the dangerouswall. How very sad would be their fate, if on the morrow, whenhe came back to take them to their promised home, they should befound crushed to pieces by the ruin. THE DISTANT HILLS. 91 Rhoda was the first to endeavour to set this feeling aside. Look,sister, she said, at that dark mouldering pile of bricks andstones; surely there is little there to tempt us from the green. * grass and pleasant flowers of the spot on which we are. Nay,had it not been pointed out to us, we should scarcely have observedit at all. But Minna raised her eyes very timidly, and replied, 92 THE DISTANT HILLS. Some clanger there must be, or our kind protector would nothave cautioned us against it. Remember that this is but thefirst beginning of our day; and he warned us, that while thesun was in the east, we should not be able to see clearly thethings that grew upon the wall. Doubtless, under a clearer light,or if haply we approach nearer, it will seem brighter and moreattractive than it does now. Let us, then, my dear sister, resolveto look at it no more, but at once to fix our gaze upon the distanthills. As she thus spoke, she breathed lightly upon her flute, and asoft note of music proceeded from it: in an instant, the cloud thatrested upon the mountains was stirred by a gentle breeze, and a strainof far sweeter melody was wafted back to the children. Then
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