Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/325

Rh them on the mountain-tops; but the dust of their so doing did not settle for a long time, and obscured our view.

“We shall not see Mont Blanc to-day, that is certain, and that is a pity!” thought I as we drove in the diligence through an atmosphere darkened with dust and mist, along the ever-narrowing mountain pass.

But suddenly an icy pyramid shot forth to the left of our path, then another and another, and finally Mont Blanc stood forth in his own lofty person with a night-cap on his summit. When, however, we arrived at Sallenches, the giant doffed his cloudy night-cap, for the sake of Louise's lovely eyes, as I averred, and the whole of the brilliant chain, in the midst of which Mont Blanc was enthroned, stood forth in full sun-splendor against the blue sky-background.

We hailed the sight with rejoicing eyes, ate a good little dinner at Sallenches, and journeyed onward.

In a cloud of dust, between five and six in the evening, we arrived at Chamouni, and obtained rooms at the Hotel de l'Union, on the brink of the roaring Arve, which rushes through the whole length of the narrow Chamouni valley—and with a view of Mont Blanc. But the Alps had again vailed themselves in cloud. However, at sunset, first one Alpine sphinx and then another, unvailed itself, and stood forth free from cloud, as if under the enchantment of the sun. And now indeed it was beautiful to behold the forms which by degrees presented themselves, the portals and the perspectives which opened, the fantastic forms which came and disappeared whilst sunbeams and