She
felt she had much to do,--a great sacrifice to make,--but firmly
resolved, at whatever cost, to go through with it; for, after all,
the sacrifice was for herself, and not for others.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE MEROVINGIAN PRINCESS.
The interior of the Cathedral of St. Marie seemed like another
world, in comparison with the noisy, bustling Market Place in front
of it.
The garish sunshine poured hot and oppressive in the square outside,
but was shorn of its strength as it passed through the painted
windows of the Cathedral, filling the vast interior with a cool,
dim, religious light, broken by tall shafts of columns, which
swelled out into ornate capitals, supporting a lofty ceiling, on
which was painted the open heavens with saints and angels adoring
the Lord.
A lofty arch of cunning work overlaid with gold, the masterpiece of
Le Vasseur, spanned the chancel, like the rainbow round the throne.
Lights were burning on the altar, incense went up in spirals to the
roof; and through the wavering cloud the saints and angels seemed to
look down with living faces upon the crowd of worshippers who knelt
upon the broad floor of the church.
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