The Lake | Page 4

still air. 'A fox,' he said, and he
trailed the animal through the hazel-bushes till he came to a rough
shore, covered with juniper-bushes and tussocked grass, the extreme
point of the headland, whence he could see the mountains--the pale
southern mountains mingling with the white sky, and the western

mountains, much nearer, showing in bold relief. The beautiful motion
and variety of the hills delighted him, and there was as much various
colour as there were many dips and curves, for the hills were not far
enough away to dwindle to one blue tint; they were blue, but the pink
heather showed through the blue, and the clouds continued to fold and
unfold, so that neither the colour nor the lines were ever the same. The
retreating and advancing of the great masses and the delicate
illumination of the crests could be watched without weariness. It was
like listening to music. Slieve Cairn showing straight as a bull's back
against the white sky, a cloud filling the gap between Slieve Cairn and
Slieve Louan, a quaint little hill like a hunchback going down a road.
Slieve Louan was followed by a great boulder-like hill turned sideways,
the top indented like a crater, and the priest likened the long, low
profile of the next hill to a reptile raising itself on its forepaws.
He stood at gaze, bewitched by the play of light and shadow among the
slopes; and when he turned towards the lake again, he was surprised to
see a yacht by Castle Island. A random breeze just sprung up had borne
her so far, and now she lay becalmed, carrying, without doubt, a
pleasure-party, inspired by some vague interest in ruins, and a very real
interest in lunch; or the yacht's destination might be Kilronan Abbey,
and the priest wondered if there were water enough in the strait to let
her through in this season of the year. The sails flapped in the puffing
breeze, and he began to calculate her tonnage, certain that if he had
such a boat he would not be sailing her on a lake, but on the bright sea,
out of sight of land, in the middle of a great circle of water. As if stung
by a sudden sense of the sea, of its perfume and its freedom, he
imagined the filling of the sails and the rattle of the ropes, and how a
fair wind would carry him as far as the cove of Cork before morning.
The run from Cork to Liverpool would be slower, but the wind might
veer a little, and in four-and-twenty hours the Welsh mountains would
begin to show above the horizon. But he would not land anywhere on
the Welsh coast. There was nothing to see in Wales but castles, and he
was weary of castles, and longed to see the cathedrals of York and
Salisbury; for he had often seen them in pictures, and had more than
once thought of a walking tour through England. Better still if the yacht
were to land him somewhere on the French coast. England was, after

all, only an island like Ireland--- a little larger, but still an island--and
he thought he would like a continent to roam in. The French cathedrals
were more beautiful than the English, and it would be pleasant to
wander in the French country in happy-go-lucky fashion, resting when
he was tired, walking when it pleased him, taking an interest in
whatever might strike his fancy.
It seemed to him that his desire was to be freed for a while from
everything he had ever seen, and from everything he had ever heard.
He merely wanted to wander, admiring everything there was to admire
as he went. He didn't want to learn anything, only to admire. He was
weary of argument, religious and political. It wasn't that he was
indifferent to his country's welfare, but every mind requires rest, and he
wished himself away in a foreign country, distracted every moment by
new things, learning the language out of a volume of songs, and
hearing music, any music, French or German--any music but Irish
music. He sighed, and wondered why he sighed. Was it because he
feared that if he once went away he might never come back?
This lake was beautiful, but he was tired of its low gray shores; he was
tired of those mountains, melancholy as Irish melodies, and as beautiful.
He felt suddenly that he didn't want to see a lake or a mountain for two
months at least, and that his longing for a change was legitimate and
most natural. It pleased him to remember that everyone likes to get out
of his native country for a while, and he had only been out of sight of
this lake