noon
OUR party continued their voyage the next day , which was less bright than any they had yet experienced . The clouds swept on dull and heavy , suffering the sun only to break forth at scattered intervals . They wound round the curving bay which the Rhine forms in that part of its course , and gazed upon the ruins of Thurmberg , with the rich gardens that skirt the banks below . The last time Trevylyan had seen those ruins soaring against the sky , the green foliage at the foot of the rocks , and the quiet village sequestered beneath , glassing its roofs and solitary tower upon the wave , it had been with a gay summer troop of light friends , who had paused on the opposite shore during the heats of noon , and , over wine and fruits , had mimicked the groups of Boccaccio , and intermingled the lute , the jest , the momentary love , and the laughing tale . What a difference now in his thoughts , in the object of the voyage , in his present companions ! The feet of years fall noiseless ; we heed , we note them not , till tracking the same course we passed long since , we are startled to find how deep the impression they leave behind . To revisit the scenes of our youth is to commune with the ghost of ourselves .