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THE PLAIN AND THE STARS.
The Mill here Will lived with his adopted parents stood in a falling valley between pinewoods and great mountains.

Above, hill after hill, soared upwards until they soared out of the depth of the hardiest timber, and stood naked against the sky.

Some way up, a long grey village lay like a seam or a ray of vapour on a wooded hillside; and when the wind was favourable, the sound of the church bells would drop down, thin and silvery, to Will.

Below, the valley grew ever steeper and steeper, and at the same time widened out on either hand; and from an eminence beside the mill it was possible to see its whole length and away beyond it over a wide plain, where the river turned and shone, and moved on from city to city on its voyage towards the sea.