And they shone
with lustrous opaline hues and wondrous flame-like glories and
gleaming iridescence, like melted jewels, and there were all
manner of graceful symbols and classic designs wrought upon them;
and their borders were garlanded with cherubs and flowers, bearing
the arms of Montefeltro, and the landscapes were the tender,
homely landscapes round about Urbino; and the mountains had the
solemn radiance that the Apennines wore at eveningtime; and amidst
the figures there was one supreme, white-robed, golden-crowned
Esther, to whom the child painter had given the face of Pacifica.
And this wondrous creation, wrought by a baby's hand, had safely
and secretly passed the ordeal of the furnace, and had come forth
without spot or flaw.
Luca ceased not from kneeling at the feet of Raffaelle, as ever
since has kneeled the world.
"Oh, wondrous boy! Oh, angel sent unto men!" sighed the poor
'prentice, as he gazed; and his heart was so full that he burst
into tears.
"Let us thank God," said little Raffaelle again; and he joined his
small hands that had wrought this miracle, and said his Laus
Domini.
When the precious jar and the great platter were removed to the
wardrobe and shut up in safety behind the steel wards of the
locker, Luca said timidly, feeling twenty years in age behind the
wisdom of this divine child: "But, dearest boy, I do not see how
your marvelous and most exquisite accomplishment can advantage me.
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