which the bare memory was so torturing.

"At least, Mrs. Gerome, let us thank God, that beyond the grave there
remains an eternal reunion with your idol, and--"

"God forbid! You talk at random, and your suggestion would drive me
mad, if I believed it. Let me be quiet."

She walked away, and seemed intently watching the sea, of whose
protean face she never wearied; and, puzzled and tantalized, Dr. Grey
turned to examine the unfinished picture.

It represented an almost colossal woman, kneeling under an apple-tree,
with her folded hands lifted towards a setting sun that glared from
purple hills, across waving fields of green and golden grain. The
azure mantle that enveloped the rounded form, floated on the wind and
seemed to melt in air, so dim were its graceful outlines; and on one
shoulder perched a dove with head under its wing, nestling to
sleep,--while a rabbit nibbled the grass at her feet, and a squirrel
curled himself comfortably on the border of her robe. In the
foreground were scattered sheaves of yellow wheat, full ears of corn,
bunches of blue, bloom-covered grapes, clusters of olives, and
various delicate flowers whose brilliant hues seemed drippings from
some wrung and broken rainbow.

The face was unlike flesh and blood,--was dim, elfish, wan, with
large, mild eyes, as blue and misty as the _nebulae_ that Herschel
found in Southern skies,--eyes that looked at nothing, but seemed to
penetrate the universe and shed soft solemn light over all things.
Back from the broad, low brow, floated a cloud of silky yellow hair,
that glittered in the slanting rays of sunshine as if powdered with
gold dust; and over its streaming strands fluttered two mottled
butterflies, and a honey-laden bee. On distant hill-slopes cattle
browsed, and at the right of the kneeling woman a young lamb nibbled a
cluster of snowy lilies, while a dappled fawn watched the gambols of a
dun kid; and on the left, in a tuft of bearded grass, a brown snake
arched its neck to peer at a brood of half-fledged partridges.

"Mrs. Gerome, will you be so kind as to explain this mythologic
design?"

She came back to the easel, and took up her palette.

"If it requires an explanation it is an egregious failure, and shall
find a vacant corner in some rubbish garret."

"It is exceedingly beautiful, but I do not fully comprehend the
symbolism."

"If it does not clearly mean the one thing for which it was intended,
it means nothing, and is worthl