the midday sun
If you climb it and come and sit there alone on a hot sunny day you may almost hear at last the clink of the Roman soldiers upon the pavement , and the sound of that older time , as you sit there in the sun , when Hannibal and his men broke through the brushwood , and no road was . Now it is very quiet . Sometimes a peasant girl comes riding by between her panniers , and you hear the mule 's feet beat upon the bricks of the pavement ; sometimes an old woman goes past with a bundle of weeds upon her head , or a brigand-looking man hurries by with a bundle of sticks in his hand ; but for the rest the Chapel lies here alone upon the promontory , between the two bays and hears the sea break at its feet . I came here one winter 's day when the midday sun shone hot on the bricks of the Roman road . I was weary , and the way seemed steep . I walked into the chapel to the broken window , and looked out across the bay . Far off , across the blue , blue water , were towns and villages , hanging white and red dots , upon the mountain-sides , and the blue mountains rose up into the sky , and now stood out from it and now melted back again .