She hastily consulted her
_indicateur_ and assented. We only had about two seconds in which to
decide.
"Let's throw these bags out of the window," she said. "I've seen other
people do it, and the porters catch them."
"Don't _throw_ them," I urged. "You will break my toilet bottles. Poke
them out gently."
She did so, and we hopped off the train just at daybreak, perfectly
delighted at doing something we had not planned.
A more lovely sight than the Cologne cathedral, with the rising sun
gilding its numerous pinnacles and spires, would be difficult to
imagine. The narrow streets were still comparatively dark, and when we
arrived we heard the majestic notes of the organ in a Bach fugue, and
found ourselves at early mass, with rows of humble worshippers
kneeling before the high altar, and the twinkle of many candles in the
soft gloom. As we stood and watched and listened, the smell of incense
floated down to us, and gradually the first rays of the sun crept
downward through the superb colored-glass windows and stained the
marble statues in their niches into gorgeous hues of purple and
scarlet and amber.
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