At an indefinite height overhead something
made the black sky blacker, which had the semblance of a vast
architrave uniting the pillars horizontally. They carefully entered
beneath and between; the surfaces echoed their soft rustle; but they
seemed to be still out of doors. The place was roofless. Tess drew
her breath fearfully, and Angel, perplexed, said--
"What can it be?"
Feeling sideways they encountered another tower-like pillar, square
and uncompromising as the first; beyond it another and another. The
place was all doors and pillars, some connected above by continuous
architraves.
"A very Temple of the Winds," he said.
The next pillar was isolated; others composed a trilithon; others
were prostrate, their flanks forming a causeway wide enough for a
carriage; and it was soon obvious that they made up a forest of
monoliths grouped upon the grassy expanse of the plain. The couple
advanced further into this pavilion of the night till they stood in
its midst.
"It is Stonehenge!" said Clare.
"The heathen temple, you mean?"
"Yes. Older than the centuries; older than the d'Urbervilles! Well,
what shall we do, darling? We may find shelter further on."
But Tess, really tired by this time, flung herself upon an oblong
slab that lay close at hand, and was sheltered from the wind by a
pillar.
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