noon
A church , of course , was near at hand , the facade of which ascended into lofty pinnacles , whereon were perched two or three winged figures of stone , either angelic or allegorical , blowing stone trumpets in close vicinity to the upper windows of an old and shabby palace . This palace was distinguished by a feature not very common in the architecture of Roman edifices ; that is to say , a mediaeval tower , square , massive , lofty , and battlemented and machicolated at the summit . At one of the angles of the battlements stood a shrine of the Virgin , such as we see everywhere at the street corners of Rome , but seldom or never , except in this solitary , instance , at a height above the ordinary level of men 's views and aspirations . Connected with this old tower and its lofty shrine , there is a legend which we can not here pause to tell ; but for centuries a lamp has been burning before the Virgin 's image , at noon , at midnight , and at all hours of the twenty-four , and must be kept burning forever , as long as the tower shall stand ; or else the tower itself , the palace , and whatever estate belongs to it , shall pass from its hereditary possessor , in accordance with an ancient vow , and become the property of the Church . As Miriam approached , she looked upward , and saw , -- not , indeed , the flame of the never-dying lamp , which was swallowed up in the broad sunlight that brightened the shrine , but a flock of white doves , skimming , fluttering , and wheeling about the topmost height of the tower , their silver wings flashing in the pure transparency of the air . Several of them sat on the ledge of the upper window , pushing one another off by their eager struggle for this favorite station , and all tapping their beaks and flapping their wings tumultuously against the panes ; some had alighted in the street , far below , but flew hastily upward , at the sound of the window being thrust ajar , and opening in the middle , on rusty hinges , as Roman windows do . A fair young girl , dressed in white , showed herself at the aperture for a single instant , and threw forth as much as her two small hands could hold of some kind of food , for the flock of eleemosynary doves .