Page:Burnett - Two Little Pilgrims' Progress A Story of the City Beautiful.djvu/178

158 ways rose from the lagoon, leading to fair open portals the wondering world passed through to splendours held within. A great statue of gold towered noble and marvellous with uplifted arms, holding high the emblems of its spirit and power, and at the end of this vista, through the archway, and between the line of columns bearing statues poised against the background of sky, he caught glimpses of the lake's scintillating blue.

He uttered a weird little sound. It was part exclamation and a bit of a laugh, cut short by something like a nervous sob which did not know what to do with itself.

"Oh!" he said. And then—"Oh!" again. And then "I—I don't know—what it's—like!" And he cleared his throat and stared, and Meg saw his narrow chest heave up and down.

"It isn't like anything, but—something we've dreamed of perhaps," said Meg, gazing in ecstasy with him.

"No—no!" answered Ben. "But I've never dreamed like it."

Meg put her hand on his shoulder.

"But you will now," she said. "You will now."

And their Man had been near enough to hear, and he came to them.