noon
Alas ! this evening my style flows not at all . Flow , then , into this smoke-colored goblet , thou blood of the Rhine ! out of thy prison-house , -- out of thy long-necked , tapering flask , in shape not unlike a church-spire among thy native hills ; and , from the crystal belfry , loud ring the merry tinkling bells , while I drink a health to my hero , in whose heart is sadness , and in whose ears the bells of Andernach are ringing noon . He is threading his way alone through a narrow alley , and now up a flight of stone steps , and along the city wall , towards that old round tower , built by the Archbishop Frederick of Cologne in the twelfth century . It has a romantic interest in his eyes ; for he has still in his mind and heart that beautiful sketch of Carové , in which is described a day on the tower of Andernach . He finds the old keeper and his wife still there ; and the old keeper closes the door behind him slowly , as of old , lest he should jam too hard the poor souls in Purgatory , whose fate it is to suffer in the cracks of doors and hinges .