ng across all the waste of this busy world into the quiet regions
of rest beyond. And yet I know every bone and every joint in it as well
as my own fist. And that old battle-axe looks as if any moment it might
be caught up by a mailed hand, and, borne forth by the mighty arm, go
crashing through casque, and skull, and brain, invading the Unknown with
yet another bewildered ghost. I should like to live in THAT room if I
could only get into it."

Scarcely had the half-moulded words floated from him, as he stood gazing
into the mirror, when, striking him as with a flash of amazement that
fixed him in his posture, noiseless and unannounced, glided suddenly
through the door into the reflected room, with stately motion, yet
reluctant and faltering step, the graceful form of a woman, clothed all
in white. Her back only was visible as she walked slowly up to the
couch in the further end of the room, on which she laid herself
wearily, turning towards him a face of unutterable loveliness, in which
suffering, and dislike, and a sense of compulsion, strangely mingled
with the beauty. He stood without the power of motion for some moments,
with his eyes irrecoverably fixed upon her; and even after he was
conscious of the ability to move, he could not summon up courage to
turn and look on her, face to face, in the veritable chamber in which
he stood. At length, with a sudden effort, in which the exercise of the
will was so pure, that it seemed involuntary, he turned his face to the
couch. It was vacant. In bewilderment, mingled with terror, he turned
again to the mirror: there, on the reflected couch, lay the exquisite
lady-form. She lay with closed eyes, whence two large tears were just
welling from beneath the veiling lids; still as death, save for the
convulsive motion of her bosom.

Cosmo himself could not have described what he felt. His emotions were
of a kind that destroyed consciousness, and could never be clearly
recalled. He could not help standing yet by the mirror, and keeping his
eyes fixed on the lady, though he was painfully aware of his rudeness,
and feared every moment that she would open hers, and meet his fixed
regard. But he was, ere long, a little relieved; for, after a while, her
eyelids slowly rose, and her eyes remained uncovered, but unemployed for
a time; and when, at length, they began to wander about the room, as if
languidly seeking to make some acquaintance with her environment, they
were never directed