Page:The Career of a Nihilist.djvu/32

age of illusions. The kindness of his friends did not rouse his vanity. Theirs was the generosity of affection, which does not measure its gifts. He accepted it as a good omen, with thankfulness, and bright pure joy. Yes, this is the rock upon which their church was built, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!

He slackened his pace. Without meaning it he had come a long way from the town. The moon had sunk, and was now staring him full in the face irritatingly. The level shore to the right began to slope gently upwards. He noticed a narrow passage between the stone walls which in Switzerland are used to fence the orchards and vineyards. Probably it led to some out-of-the-way place, for the grass in the crevices between the big smooth pebbles, with which it was paved, showed it to be but little used.

Andrey plunged into its shadows, and began to ascend the slope. It grew steeper as he went on. The roof of some building abruptly overshadowed the lane. He looked up, and saw a black waving line of tiles projected against the blue sky. In the walls of the weather-beaten building were narrow perpendicular slits. It was evidently a stable. A cow, chewing the cud within, snorted as she smelt the approaching stranger, but as he passed on she quietly took to her ruminating again.

A little farther vineyards began, the thick clusters of vines overhanging the coping of the walls. Some hundred yards farther the lane turned short to the left, running in a broad curve between the two long walls, which gave it the appearance of an empty aqueduct. A narrow flight of stone stairs built against the hill side, marked out a shadow of exaggerated zigzags upon the rough masonry. When Andrey had climbed them he saw an open field dotted with hazels. A footpath, probably connecting the lower road with another on a higher level, shone like a stream of water upon the emerald green moonlit sward.

Andrey ventured into the path. At the top of the slope stood a clump of willows, which attracted him. But after a short distance the path, spreading out in a level tract of soft ground disappeared. Straining his eyes a little, Andrey observed in the distance another turn of the pathway ascending a small bushy hillock to the right. He climbed this, and was surprised to find himself in front of an ordinary garden-bench with arms and a comfortable sloping back, reminding him disagreeably of man’s