An hour or so later the sky had cleared,
and there was a splendid moon: opening the windows, we found
ourselves looking over the tops of trees on to some lovely upland
pastures, on a winding path through which we could almost fancy we
saw a youth led by an angel, and there was a dog with him, and he
held a fish in his hand. Far below were lights from villages in
the valley of the Dora. Above us rose the mountains, bathed in
shadow, or glittering in the moonbeams, and there came from them
the pleasant murmuring of streamlets that had been swollen by the
storm.
Next morning the sky was cloudless and the air invigorating. S.
Ambrogio, at the foot of the mountain, must be some 800 feet above
the sea, and San Pietro about 1500 feet above S. Ambrogio. The
sanctuary at the top of the mountain is 2800 feet above the sea-
level, or about 500 feet above San Pietro. A situation more
delightful than that of San Pietro it is impossible to conceive.
It contains some 200 inhabitants, and lies on a ledge of level
land, which is, of course, covered with the most beautifully green
grass, and in spring carpeted with wild-flowers; great broad-leaved
chestnuts rise from out the meadows, and beneath their shade are
strewn masses of sober mulberry-coloured rock; but above all these
rises the great feature of the place, from which, when it is in
sight, the eyes can hardly be diverted,--I mean the sanctuary of S.
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