- - -
Alone, rising from the level of the plain, and seemingly lost in that
expanse of open country, climbed to the sky the twin steeples of
Martinville. Presently we saw three: springing into position confronting
them by a daring volt, a third, a dilatory steeple, that of Vieuxvicq, was
come to join them. The minutes passed, we were moving rapidly, and yet the
three steeples were always a long way ahead of us, like three birds
perched upon the plain, motionless and conspicuous in the sunlight. Then
the steeple of Vieuxvicq withdrew, took its proper distance, and the
steeples of Martinville remained alone, gilded by the light of the setting
sun, which, even at that distance, I could see playing and smiling upon
their sloped sides. We had been so long in approaching them that I was
thinking of the time that must still elapse before we could reach them
when, of a sudden, the carriage, having turned a corner, set us down at
their feet; and they had flung themselves so abruptly in our path that we
had barely time to stop before being dashed against the porch of the
church.
We resumed our course; we had left Martinville some little time, and the
village, after accompanying us for a few seconds, had already disappeared,
when, lingering alone on the horizon to watch our flight, its steeples and
that of Vieuxvicq waved once again, in token of farewell, their sun-bathed
pinnacles.
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