rion.

"She has kept her self-respect, and I think on that foundation she
should build the negative happiness called peace of mind."

"What if the sting is too fresh, the poison too strong? What if the cup
is still before her?"

"Then she should dash it resolutely from her, and trust that time will
heal the wound."

Marion smiled faintly. She was thinking of an express train rushing
toward the East and bearing danger farther and farther away. "Perhaps
destiny is kind sometimes," she thought. "Were you ever unhappy,
Florence?" she asked after a moment.

"Why, what an absurd question," her friend replied. "Is there any one
who has not been unhappy at some time?"

"O, of course people have unpleasant moments which they get over,"
Marion answered; "but what I call unhappiness is to feel that one has
made an irreparable mistake in life, and then to be suddenly shown the
unattainable possibility."

"I should think such a person would feel something like a hungry pauper,
gazing into a pastry cook's window. The glimpse of possibility must
intensify his craving."

"You are utterly practical and entirely unsympathetic," said Marion,
somewhat ruffled at Florence's levity. "Sometimes I think you are a most
unsatisfactory person."

"I will not be dismissed as a person," laughed Florence. "You may call
me anything you like, but don't subject me to the degradation of being
styled a person."

"I think you deserve it for turning my seriousness so inconsiderately
into ridicule," said Marion with an injured air.

"It is just the best thing for you," Florence replied. "You worry
unnecessarily."

"You always say that," sighed Marion, "but you don't understand."

"Yes, I do. No one understands you as well as I do."

"Then why don't you sympathize with me more?"

"You don't need sympathy; that only panders to your discontent. What you
need is to be shaken up and made to forget yourself."

"You're a cruel girl."

"I know it, and I am going home to-morrow."

"Are you daft, Florence?" said Marion, amazed at her friend's
abruptness.

"No, I mean it," replied Florence. "But it is not because you have
treated me badly, my dear. I did not mean to tell you so suddenly, but
something happened a short time ago which makes me feel I had better
leave. Please don't ask me about it, dear," she continued, seeing the
questioning expression in Marion's eyes. "I only feel that it will be
wiser for me to go away."

"Why, Florence," s