noon
Gertrude smiled ; and , as Trevylyan 's arm encircled her , she sank her beautiful face upon his bosom , he covered it with his kisses , and she thought at the moment , that , even had she passed death , that embrace could have recalled her to life . They pursued their course to Mayence , partly by land , partly along the river . One day , as returning from the vine-clad mountains of Johannisberg , which commands the whole of the Rheingau , the most beautiful valley in the world , they proceeded by water to the town of Ellfeld , Gertrude said , -- `` There is a thought in your favourite poet which you have often repeated , and which I can not think true , -- ``` In nature there is nothing melancholy . ' `` To me , it seems as if a certain melancholy were inseparable from beauty ; in the sunniest noon there is a sense of solitude and stillness which pervades the landscape , and even in the flush of life inspires us with a musing and tender sadness . Why is this ? '' `` I can not tell , '' said Trevylyan , mournfully ; `` but I allow that it is true . '' `` It is as if , '' continued the romantic Gertrude , `` the spirit of the world spoke to us in the silence , and filled us with a sense of our mortality , -- a whisper from the religion that belongs to nature , and is ever seeking to unite the earth with the reminiscences of Heaven .