Page:The Portrait of a Lady (1882).djvu/265

257 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. 257 Moreover, his being in Eome at all made her vaguely uneasy. Nevertheless, when on bringing his call to a close, he said that he too should be at St. Peter's and should look out for Isabel and her friends, she was obliged to reply that it would be a pleasure to see him again. In the church, as she strolled over its tesselated acres, he was the. first person she encountered. She had not been one of the superior tourists who are " disappointed " in St. Peter's and find it smaller than its fame ; the first time she passed beneath the huge leathern curtain that strains and bangs at the entrance the first time she found herself beneath the far-arching dome and saw the light drizzle down through the air thickened with incense and with the reflections of marble and gilt, of mosaic and bronze, her conception of greatness received an extension. After this it never lacked space to soar. She gazed and won- dered, like a child or a peasant, and paid her silent tribute to .visible grandeur. Lord Warburton walked beside her and talked of Saint Sophia of Constantinople ; she was afraid that he would end by calling attention to his exemplary conduct. The service had not yet begun, but at St. Peter's there is much to observe, and as there is something almost profane in the vastness of the place, which seems meant as much for physical as for spiritual exercise, the different figures and groups, the mingled worship- pers and spectators, may follow their various intentions without mutual scandal. In that splendid immensity individual indis- cretion carries but a short distance. Isabel and her companions, however, were guilty of none ; for though Henrietta was obliged to declare that Michael Angelo's dome suffered by comparison with that of the Capitol at Washington, she addressed her pro- test chiefly to Mr. Bantling's ear, and reserved it, in its more accentuated form, for the columns of the Interviewer. Isabel made the circuit of the church with Lord Warburton, and as they drew near the choir on the left of the entrance the voices of the Pope's singers were borne towards them over the heads of the large number of persons clustered outside the doors. They paused a while on the skirts of this crowd, composed in equal measure of Roman cockneys and inquisitive strangers, and while they stood there the sacred concert went forward. Ralph,. with Henrietta and Mr. Bantling, was apparently within, where Isabel, above the heads of the dense group in front of her, saw the afternoon light, silvered by clouds of incense that seemed to mingle with the splendid chant, sloping through the embossed recesses of high windows. After a while the singing stopped, and then Lord Warburton seemed disposed to turn away again. s