from which the more privileged were to see the fireworks. The seats were
at the end of a row, one above the other. Charity had taken off her hat
to have an uninterrupted view; and whenever she leaned back to follow
the curve of some dishevelled rocket she could feel Harney's knees
against her head.

After a while the scattered fireworks ceased. A longer interval of
darkness followed, and then the whole night broke into flower. From
every point of the horizon, gold and silver arches sprang up and crossed
each other, sky-orchards broke into blossom, shed their flaming petals
and hung their branches with golden fruit; and all the while the air was
filled with a soft supernatural hum, as though great birds were building
their nests in those invisible tree-tops.

Now and then there came a lull, and a wave of moonlight swept the Lake.
In a flash it revealed hundreds of boats, steel-dark against lustrous
ripples; then it withdrew as if with a furling of vast translucent
wings. Charity's heart throbbed with delight. It was as if all the
latent beauty of things had been unveiled to her. She could not imagine
that the world held anything more wonderful; but near her she heard
someone say, "You wait till you see the set piece," and instantly her
hopes took a fresh flight. At last, just as it was beginning to seem as
though the whole arch of the sky were one great lid pressed against her
dazzled eye-balls, and striking out of them continuous jets of
jewelled light, the velvet darkness settled down again, and a murmur of
expectation ran through the crowd.

"Now--now!" the same voice said excitedly; and Charity, grasping the hat
on her knee, crushed it tight in the effort to restrain her rapture.