All the rest of the landscape, remember, was untouched
with a ray of light. This lasted only a minute or two, then the
sun itself sank into the open patch of sky and shot glory in
every direction; broadening beams smote upwards over the dark
clouds, and made them a lurid yellow. To the left of the sun, the
gulf of Aegina was all golden mist, the islands floating in it
vaguely. To the right, over black Salamis, lay delicate strips of
pale blue--indescribably pale and delicate.'
'You remember it very clearly.'
'As if I saw it now! But wait. I turned eastward, and there to my
astonishment was a magnificent rainbow, a perfect semicircle,
stretching from the foot of Parnes to that of Hymettus, framing
Athens and its hills, which grew brighter and brighter--the
brightness for which there is no name among colours. Hymettus was
of a soft misty warmth, a something tending to purple, its ridges
marked by exquisitely soft and indefinite shadows, the rainbow
coming right down in front. The Acropolis simply glowed and
blazed. As the sun descended all these colours grew richer and
warmer; for a moment the landscape was nearly crimson.
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