over the roofsof the town

"I'm sure you're right," she said warmly, and shook the hand heheld out. "You'll be a great man, I'm certain."Then, as if to make him look at the scene, she swept her hand roundthe immense circumference of the view. From the sea, over the roofsof the town, across the crests of the mountains, over the riverand the plain, and again across the crests of the mountains itswept until it reached the villa, the garden, the magnolia-tree,and the figures of Hirst and herself standing together, when itdropped to her side. Chapter 16    Hewet and Rachel had long ago reached the particular place onthe edge of the cliff where, looking down into the sea, you mightchance on jelly-fish and dolphins. Looking the other way, the vastexpanse of land gave them a sensation which is given by no view,however extended, in England; the villages and the hills therehaving names, and the farthest horizon of hills as often as notdipping and showing a line of mist which is the sea; here the viewwas one of infinite sun-dried earth, earth pointed in pinnacles,heaped in vast barriers, earth widening and spreading away and awaylike the immense floor of the sea, earth chequered by day and by night,and partitioned into different lands, where famous cities were founded,and the races of men changed from dark savages to white civilised men,and back to dark savages again. Perhaps their English bloodmade this prospect uncomfortably impersonal and hostile to them,for having once turned their faces that way they next turned themto the sea, and for the rest of the time sat looking at the sea. 　　The sea, though it was a thin and sparkling water here, which seemedincapable of surge or anger, eventually narrowed itself, clouded itspure tint with grey, and swirled through narrow channels and dashedin a shiver of broken waters against massive granite rocks. 　　It was this sea that flowed up to the mouth of the Thames;and the Thames washed the roots of the city of London. 　　Hewet's thoughts had followed some such course as this, for thefirst thing he said as they stood on the edge of the cliff was--"I'd like to be in England!"Rachel lay down on her elbow, and parted the tall grasses which grewon the edge, so that she might have a clear view. The water wasvery calm; rocking up and down at the base of the cliff, and so clearthat one could see the red of the stones at the bottom of it. 　　So it had been at the birth of the world, and so it had remainedever since. Probably no human being had ever broken that waterwith boat or with body. Obeying some impulse, she determined to marthat eternity of peace, and threw the largest pebble she could find.