She met me in the garden. We sat down by the gate, from which vantage point we had a good view of the Campagna. When you gaze at the Campagna you cannot prattle nonsense. No, it was she who gazed at the Campagna and I gazed into her eyes--clear to the seventh sky, where you end the count of your heavens. We were silent or--if you regard the following as conversation--we spoke:
"Yes, those are the mountains of Albania. And there--is Tivoli."
She picked out little white houses in the distance and pointed them out to me and I felt a peculiar calm and joy in Maria's gaze. The suspicious resemblance of Maria to the Madonna no longer troubled me: how can I possibly be troubled by the fact that you resemble _yourself_? And came a moment when a great peace of mind descended upon _me_. I have no words of comparison whereby to reveal to you that great and bright calm.... I am forever conjuring up before me that accursed schooner with its lowered sails, on which I never really sailed, for I am afraid of seasickness! Or is it because on this night of my loneliness, my road is being illuminated by the _Star of the Seas_? Well, yes, I was a schooner, if you so desire it, and if this is not agreeable to you I was _All_. Besides I was _Nothing_. You see what nonsense emerges out of all this talk when Wondergood begins to seek words and comparisons.
I was so calm that I even soon began to gaze into Maria's eyes: I simply _believed_ them. This is deeper than mere gazing. When necessary I shall find those eyes again. In the meantime I shall remain a schooner with sails lowered. I shall be _All_ and I shall be _Nothing_. Only once did a slight breeze stir my sails, but only for a moment: that was when Maria pointed out the Tiberian road to me, cutting the green hills like a white thread, and asked whether I had ever traversed it before.
"I often gaze upon this road and think that it must be extremely pleasant to traverse it by automobile."
"Oh, yes, Signorina, very swift! But those," I continued in gentle reproach, "who are themselves limitless distances and endlessness are in no need of any movement."
Maria and an automobile! A winged angel entering a trolley car for the sake of speed! A swallow riding on a turtle! An arrow on the humpy back of a hod carrier! Ah, all comparisons lie: why speak of swallows and arrows, why speak of any movement for Maria, who embraces all distances! But it is only now that I thought of the trolley and the turtle. At that time I felt so calm and peaceful, I was deep in such bliss that I could think of nothing except that countenance of eternity and undying light!