While I gazed a sudden shower came pattering down upon the leaves . In a moment the air was full of brightness , each raindrop catching a portion of sunlight as it fell , and the whole gentle shower appearing like a mist , just substantial enough to bear the burden of radiance . A rainbow vivid as Niagara 's was painted in the air . Its southern limb came down before the group of trees and enveloped the fair vision as if the hues of heaven were the only garment for her beauty . When the rainbow vanished , she who had seemed a part of it was no longer there . Was her existence absorbed in nature 's loveliest phenomenon , and did her pure frame dissolve away in the varied light ? Yet I would not despair of her return , for , robed in the rainbow , she was the emblem of Hope . Thus did the vision leave me , and many a doleful day succeeded to the parting moment . By the spring and in the wood and on the hill and through the village , at dewy sunrise , burning noon , and at that magic hour of sunset , when she had vanished from my sight , I sought her , but in vain . Weeks came and went , months rolled away , and she appeared not in them . I imparted my mystery to none , but wandered to and fro or sat in solitude like one that had caught a glimpse of heaven and could take no more joy on earth . I withdrew into an inner world where my thoughts lived and breathed , and the vision in the midst of them . Without intending it , I became at once the author and hero of a romance , conjuring up rivals , imagining events , the actions of others and my own , and experiencing every change of passion , till jealousy and despair had their end in bliss . Oh , had I the burning fancy of my early youth with manhood 's colder gift , the power of expression , your hearts , sweet ladies , should flutter at my tale . In the middle of January I was summoned home . The day before my departure , visiting the spots which had been hallowed by the vision , I found that the spring had a frozen bosom , and nothing but the snow and a glare of winter sunshine on the hill of the rainbow . `` Let me hope , '' thought I , `` or my heart will be as icy as the fountain and the whole world as desolate as this snowy hill . '' Most of the day was spent in preparing for the journey , which was to commence at four o'clock the next morning . About an hour after supper , when all was in readiness , I descended from my chamber to the sitting-room to take leave of the old clergyman and his family with whom I had been an inmate . A gust of wind blew out my lamp as I passed through the entry .
According to their invariable custom -- so pleasant a one when the fire blazes cheerfully -- the family were sitting in the parlor with no other light than what came XXXXX the hearth .
By While after as at from of on that through