The rejoicing came a little too soon; a very few minutes later other visitors on foot and on bicycles began to come in, and we all looked at each other a little blankly.

Then a motorcar arrived, and two gentlemen stepped out and stared at us, and one suddenly burst out laughing.
"I see nothing to laugh at!" said his companion a little severely.
The other in a low voice made some apology or explanation which I failed to catch.

It was, of course, not right; it was indecent to laugh on such an occasion, for we were not of the ebullient sort who go to "The Stones" at three o'clock in the morning "for a lark"; but it was very natural in the circumstances, and mentally I laughed myself at the absurdity of the situation.

However, the laugher had been rebuked for his levity, and this incident over, there was nothing further to disturb me or any one in our solemn little gathering.
It was a very sweet experience, and I cannot say that my early morning outing would have been equally good at any other lonely spot on Salisbury Plain or anywhere else with a wide starry sky above me, the flush of dawn in the east, and the larks rising heavenward out of the dim misty earth.

Those rudely fashioned immemorial stones standing dark and large against the pale clear moonlit sky imparted something to the feeling.