74 STUDIES OF NATURE 



quite brilliant in the north. By that time there 

 was only one cloud left in the sky ; but that one 

 was immense in size and intensely dark one 

 of 'Black Vesper's pageants.' I suppose that 

 people have always fledged their fancy, as 

 Antony had done, in speculations as to what the 

 clouds they see are most like ; and as we took 

 our midnight walk along the beach we talked of 

 this same cloud. One would have it to be a 

 nun ; but as, clearly enough, it had wings, that 

 was held to be inadmissible. Another wondered 

 how we could doubt that it was an eagle the 

 eagle of the Caucasus. That was grand enough ; 

 but finally we decided that it should have a 

 permanent place in our records as the Angel of 

 Night. Outside this cloud, which filled a third 

 part of the visible heavens, the stars sparkled as 

 if there had been frost ; and in the south-east 

 a great planet shone with sufficient strength to 

 cast a narrow lane of light along the sea just as 

 the moon does. It was a grand spectacle, and, 



