I could see her face plainly--the look of entreaty in her eyes and the beckoning motion of her hands.

She was calling to me, and urging me to join her; and--I _could_ not! A wide crevasse yawned before me, preventing any forward movement.

It yawned deep down in front of my feet, fathoms below fathoms, piercing down, seemingly, to the centre of the earth.

Looking over its edge I could mark how the vaulted arc of heaven and the starry firmament were reflected in its bottomless abyss; while, its breadth, seemed immeasurable.

I saw that I could not cross it by the path I had hitherto pursued; and yet, whenever I turned aside, and tried to reach the mountain top by some other way, the horrible crevasse curved its course likewise, still confronting me.