Hill, and that was formidably closed by the presence of the man who
should have been her companion. Finally she decided on the temple, and
tying on the large grey hat that blended so charmingly with her eyes
and the soft tints of her skin, she walked along the little footpath
skirting the police-camp vegetable-garden to the western entrance.

Inside the temple walls all was very peaceful and still, while the
sunshine made a network of gold through the leafy trees upon the
antique masonry. Yet as she looked around upon the empty desolation
her heart grew sad with a nameless sorrow; that old, old ache, and
old, old tiredness, for the utter futility of work and of striving,
that sometimes seems to fill the human heart, when in a depressed mood
it looks upon the ruins of something that has once had strength and
greatness. Meryl carried in her hand a little pocket edition of Omar,
but she did not open the leaves nor read the lines. In a vague way it
was enough to have it with her; it was like having in her hand the
hand of a friend who understood. For of all poets the world has known,
perhaps none have so perfectly voiced the cry of the human heart when
it questions the why and the wherefore and the worthwhileness of its
own mysterious existence. So she sat very still in the ancient temple,
and pondered the old questions that live from age to age--unanswered.

And because Sorrow seemed for the moment to have her in his keeping,
all her thoughts were tinged with sadness. She looked around upon the
broken walls, and it seemed to be brought home to her with sudden
force, how little time was given to each one to play his part before
he must make room for another.

The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly, and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.

And because there was that element of greatness in her, which was also
in her father, she thought less of the "worthwhileness" of doing than
of the poorness of _not_ doing. His talents were given to
money-making, because it was the thing he had a genius for; but she
knew that in a measure he fulfilled his trust, and besides subscribing
generously to charities, helped many a "lame dog" over his stile in
secret. But what had this to do with the trust that was hers? She who
did not even bear the heat and burden of the day in making the
money?... She who had but to spend it.

In the ruined temple she sat on--thinking, thinking.

How the spot fascinated her!

In this far Rhode