The monastery was always a very silent habitation,--situated as it was on so lofty and barren a crag, it was far beyond the singing- reach of the smaller sweet-throated birds--now and then an eagle clove the mist with a whirr of wings and a discordant scream on his way toward some distant mountain eyrie--but no other sound of awakening life broke the hush of the slowly widening dawn. An hour passed--and Alwyn still remained in the same position,--as pallidly quiescent as a corpse stretched out for burial. By and by a change begin to thrill mysteriously through the atmosphere, like the flowing of amber wine through crystal--the heavy vapors shuddered together as though suddenly lashed by a whip of flame,-- they rose, swayed to and fro, and parted asunder. ... then, dissolving into thin, milk-white veils of fleecy film, they floated away, disclosing as they vanished, the giant summits of the encircling mountains, that lifted themselves to the light, one above another, in the form of frozen billows. Over these a delicate pink flush flitted in tremulous wavy lines--long arrows of gold began to pierce the tender shimmering blue of the sky-- soft puffs of cloud tinged with vivid crimson and pale green were strewn along the eastern horizon like flowers in the path of an advancing hero,--and then all at once there was a slight cessation of movement in the heavens--an attentive pause as though the whole universe waited for some great splendor as yet unrevealed. That splendor came, in a red blaze of triumph the Sun rose, pouring a shower of beamy brilliancy over the white vastness of the heights covered with perpetual snow,--jagged peaks, sharp as scimetars and sparkling with ice, caught fire, and seemed to melt away in an absorbing sea of radiance, ... the waiting clouds moved on, redecked in deeper hues of royal purple--and the full Morning glory was declared. As the dazzling effulgence streamed through the window and flooded the couch where Alwyn lay, a faint tinge of color returned to his face,--his lips moved,--his broad chest heaved with struggling sighs,--his eyelids quivered,--and his before rigid hands relaxed and folded themselves together in an attitude of peace and prayer. Like a statue becoming slowly and magically flushed with life, the warm hues of the naturally flowing blood deepened through the whiteness of his skin,--his breathing grew more and more easy and regular,--his features gradually assumed their wonted appearance, and presently ... without any violent start or exclamation ... he awoke! But was it a real awakening? or rather a continuation of some strange impression received in slumber?