The church is vast and very quiet and restful, with a large plain
window of green glass that increases its cool freshness; while
the young leaves of a chestnut close to another window add to this
effect. The koster coming at last, I was shown the ancient chained
library in the chapter house, and he enlarged upon the beauties of a
metal font. Wandering out again into this city of silence I found in
the square by the church an exhibition of wax works which was to be
opened at four o'clock. Making a note to return to it at that hour,
I sought the river, where the timber is floated down from the German
forests, and lost myself among peat barges and other craft, and walked
some miles in and about Zutphen, and a little way down a trickling
stream whence the view of the city is very beautiful; and by-and-by
found myself by the church and the wax works again, in a town that
since my absence had quite filled with bustling people--four o'clock
having struck and the Princess of the Day Dream having (I suppose)
been kissed. The change was astonishing.
Wax works always make me uncomfortable, and these were no exception;
but the good folk of Zutphen found them absorbing. The murderers stood
alone, staring with that fixity which only a wax assassin can compass;
but for the most part the figures were arranged in groups with dramatic
intent.
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