216 Shadowings 



instance, could not produce a like impression. 

 I felt certain that the horror was made by some 

 thing altogether peculiar to Gothic construction, 

 and that this something haunted the tops of the 

 arches. 



" Yes, Gothic architecture is awful," said a 

 religious friend, " because it is the visible expres 

 sion of Christian faith. No other religious 

 architecture symbolizes spiritual longing; but 

 the Gothic embodies it. Every part climbs or 

 leaps ; every supreme detail soars and points like 

 fire. . . ." " There may be considerable truth in 

 what you say," I replied ; " but it does not relate 

 to the riddle that baffles me. Why should shapes 

 that symbolize spiritual longing create horror? 

 Why should any expression of Christian ecstasy 

 inspire alarm ? . . ." 



Other hypotheses in multitude I tested without 

 avail ; and I returned to the simple and savage 

 conviction that the secret of the horror somehow 

 belonged to the points of the archings. But for 

 years I could not find it. At last, at last, in the 

 early hours of a certain tropical morning, it 

 revealed itself quite unexpectedly, while I was 

 looking at a glorious group of palms. 



