And oh how happy we might have been in our cottage ! '' `` Dear heart , we will yet be happy there , '' answered Matthew . `` Look ! In this direction the sunshine penetrates the dismal mist ; by its aid I can direct our course to the passage of the Notch . Let us go back , love , and dream no more of the Great Carbuncle . '' `` The sun can not be yonder , '' said Hannah , with despondence . `` By this time it must be noon ; if there could ever be any sunshine here , it would come from above our heads . '' `` But look ! '' repeated Matthew , in a somewhat altered tone . `` It is brightening every moment . If not sunshine , what can it be ? '' Nor could the young bride any longer deny that a radiance was breaking through the mist and changing its dim hue to a dusky red , which continually grew more vivid , as if brilliant particles were interfused with the gloom . Now , also , the cloud began to roll away from the mountain , while , as it heavily withdrew , one object after another started out of its impenetrable obscurity into sight with precisely the effect of a new creation before the indistinctness of the old chaos had been completely swallowed up . As the process went on they saw the gleaming of water close at their feet , and found themselves on the very border of a mountain-lake , deep , bright , clear and calmly beautiful , spreading from brim to brim of a basin that had been scooped out of the solid rock . A ray of glory flashed across its surface . The pilgrims looked whence it should proceed , but closed their eyes , with a thrill of awful admiration , to exclude the fervid splendor that glowed from the brow of a cliff impending over the enchanted lake . For the simple pair had reached that lake of mystery and found the long-sought shrine of the Great Carbuncle . They threw their arms around each other and trembled at their own success , for as the legends of this wondrous gem rushed thick upon their memory they felt themselves marked out by fate , and the consciousness was fearful . Often from childhood upward they had seen it shining like a distant star , and now that star was throwing its intensest lustre on their hearts . They seemed changed to one another 's eyes in the red brilliancy that flamed upon their cheeks , while it lent the same fire to the lake , the rocks and sky , and to the mists which had rolled back before its power .
But XXXXX their next glance they beheld an object that drew their attention even from the mighty stone .
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