that in the last half hour
she had gained more than she had lost; that life, however tedious it
might be, was in a manner consecrated by this great devotion, which
death had embalmed, to be a light to her in lonely places and dark
hours, a perpetual after-thought against the cynicism or despair to
which her imitation of happiness might conduce.

The mask of a smile, and mourning in her heart! Yes, it was in some
such phrase as that that the life which began then for her must be
expressed--for her, and perhaps, she reflected sadly, for others,
for many, the justest and the best.

And in the meantime she would go back to her dancers, resume once
more her well-worn _role_ of the brilliant and efficient hostess. She
wondered if it would be difficult to account for herself, to explain
an absence so unprecedented, if, as was doubtless the case, her
figure had been missed. But the next moment she smiled a trifle
bitterly, for she had reminded herself of her husband's proved
facility of prevarication, which she felt certain would already have
been usefully employed.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A COMEDY OF MASKS***

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