But neither Alec nor Mercedes ever knew . And I 'm thankful now that they were so happy . Alec made this arbour for Mercedes -- at least he made the trellis , and she planted the vines . `` She used to sit here most of the time in summer . I suppose that 's why I like to sit here . Her eyes would be dreamy and far-away until Alec would flash his welcome . How that used to torture me ! But now I like to remember it . And her pretty soft foreign voice and little white hands . She died after she had lived here a year . They buried her and her baby in the graveyard of that little chapel over the harbour where the bell rings every evening . She used to like sitting here and listening to it . Alec lived a long while after , but he never married again . He 's gone now , and nobody remembers Mercedes but me . '' Abel lapsed into a reverie -- a tryst with the past which I would not disturb . I thought he did not notice my departure , but as I opened the gate he stood up and waved his hand . Three days later I went again to the old garden by the harbour shore . There was a red light on a distant sail . In the far west a sunset city was built around a great deep harbour of twilight . Palaces were there and bannered towers of crimson and gold .
The air was full XXXXX music ; there was one music of the wind and another of the waves , and still another of the distant bell from the chapel near which Mercedes slept .
around as at by into of on over until while